Kate McNiven

Kate McNiven lived in the village of Monzie and was well known as a healer and prophetess. Her family came from Muthill and Braco in Strathearn and this also contributed to local feeling against her as an outsider.[1]

In 1715, during the Witchhunts, she was accused of witchcraft and forced into hiding in a cave beside the Shaggy Burn stream, near the village of Monzie. However, after three weeks she was discovered and was sentenced to death. She suffered death by Fire and Faggot near Monzie Castle, Monzie, Perthshire.[1][3][4][5] Kate Nevin was executed only 20 years before the passing of the Witchcraft Act of 1735, whereby the penalty for practising witchcraft was reduced from death to imprisonment.

There is some doubt as to the authenticity of this story. It was noted by Louisa G. Graeme in 1903 that no authentic record of Kate McNiven's death existed and the story has "caused endless discussion and argument".[6] The blog of the University of Dundee's Archives notes that other sources have suggested that if Kate McNiven existed then she must have been executed around 1615.[7] John L. Wilson dated the execution to 1615 and noted that while there are no records of her execution, written evidence from a 1643 witchcraft trial references a Witch of Monzie.[8]

Before McNiven was burnt she cursed the Laird of Monzie and the Village of Monzie itself.

From father to son, Monzie shall never pass; no heir of line should ever hold the lands now held by him

She then proceeded to curse the Kirktoun of Monzie;

In future years, its size and population should decrease, it should hold no share in all the growing prosperity of the surrounding towns, and ever by some hearth amidst its cottage homes there should crawl an idiot with lolling tongue and rolling eyes[5]

McNiven's name has been assigned to many landmarks around Monzie including Nevin's Cave, McNieven's Craig (Crag), The Kate Nevin Ghost Tree, McNieven's Well, McNieven's Yet and the Nevin Stone.

The Nevin Stone is a large freestanding stone said to mark the spot where she was burnt as a witch in 1715. The stone is an outlier, 0.5 miles from a Cairn Circle. The Cairn Circle is ancient and has been the subject of an archaeological dig. There is also a Petroglyph Stone beside the Cairn.[1] David Cowan published a claim that the craig where Kate Nevin hid and the stone where she died are on a Ley Line.[9]

The Inchbrakie House Monument. The Graemes of Inchbrakie Coat of Arms is embedded on the main wall

After her death the Graemes of Inchbrakie incorporated the three crescent moons of the Nevins into the shield of their own coat of arms.[1][3][10] The Graemes of Inchbrakie Coat of Arms can still be viewed on the monument erected at Inchbrakie on the site of the original house which was demolished in 1888.[3]

There is a modern-day rhyme in the village of Monzie that regards Nevin;

As long as the Shaggie rins crookit and bent

there’ll be a Witch o Mon-ie

And she’ll ne'er be kent

In 1835, McNiven was chronicled by the Rev. George Blair in his book "The Holocaust".[1]

Kate McNiven is not to be confused with the unknown Nevin woman burnt at the stake in St Andrews, Scotland in front of James VI in May 1569.[11]

• Blair, Revd. George. The Holocaust, or The Witch of Monzie. London, 1835.
• Hunter, Revd. John. Chronicles of Strathearn. David Philips, Crieff, 1896. Illustrated by W.B. MacDougall.
• Sharpe, Charles Kirkpatrick. Historical Account of the Belief in Witchcraft in Scotland. Hamilton, Adams & Co, 1884. Reprinted Kessinger Publishing Co, 2003.

• Archives Hub: Papers relating to the Witch of Monzie