Witchcraft

The Pillory and the Fate of William Sellor

Carrickfergus

1711 to 1712

After the March 1711 verdict the women were jailed for a year and four times placed in the pillory, or stocks, at Carrickfergus. According to Belfast Entries, local crowds threw rotten produce and stones at them, and one woman is said to have lost an eye. When they were released they were ostracised by the community they had lived in.

Mary Dunbar died within about three weeks of the trial. In September 1711 William Sellor, described as the husband of Janet Liston and father of Elizabeth Sellor, was convicted of bewitching her. Wikipedia says that under the 1586 Act this was a capital offence and that he probably faced execution, but his final fate is not firmly recorded.

The case survives mostly on paper. A research project led by Ulster University, the Islandmagee Witches 1711 project, has published the original documents and built a range of creative and digital work from them.

This site is private property or has no public access. Coordinates shown are rounded and no directions are offered.
Evidence
Contemporary written record
Access
No public access
Location
54.713, -5.807 (Sited to the village)

Sources: Wikipedia, "Islandmagee witch trial" [other]; Belfast Entries, "The Last Witch Trial in Ireland" [other]; Islandmagee Witches 1711 project (Ulster University) [other]

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