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Scottish Wizard?

Road to Innsmouth

Road to Innsmouth

Fresh Blood
Joined
Feb 25, 2020
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21
Hi everyone I'm wondering if you can help?

I'm sure I remember an article in FT a few years back about a Scottish wizard who maybe lived in Edinburgh and walked around with is 'staff' I think the article goes into where he lived in the city and it was possible to visit where he lived until relatively recently as it was redeveloped? I think they said that they never found his magical staff or something like that! I'm just trying to track down the article for research but I am finding it hard to locate.

I apologies for the rambling and the lack of detail as it was a while ago now.

I hope you can help
 
Spookdaddy said:
You might be thinking of Major Weir, late of West Bow, Edinburgh (very late, in fact - died 1670).

I seem to remember that his magic staff is said to have been burned alongside his body after his execution.

Edit: Article on Major Weir in FT 311 / Feb 2014.
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That's it thank you
 
A chap I was working with at the end of last year is renovating a flat on Victoria Street. I'm not sure Victoria Street and West Bow are technically synonymous, but, from what I understand the former corresponds with the course of the latter, which followed a zig zag line down the hill, rather than the graceful curve you see today. Given Victoria Street's location though, I doubt the spirit of Major Weir will be able to make himself heard above the crowds of tourists, the roaring pissheads, the honking taxi's and all the festival mayhem.
 
Spookdaddy said:
A chap I was working with at the end of last year is renovating a flat on Victoria Street. I'm not sure Victoria Street and West Bow are technically synonymous, but, from what I understand the former corresponds with the course of the latter, which followed a zig zag line down the hill, rather than the graceful curve you see today. Given Victoria Street's location though, I doubt the spirit of Major Weir will be able to make himself heard above the crowds of tourists, the roaring pissheads, the honking taxi's and all the festival mayhem.
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It's been a while (well, 33 years) since I moved away from Edinburgh, but I thought Victoria Street and West Bow were at opposite ends of the Grassmarket. I could be misremembering. I could be Miss Prism, for all I know.
 
owenhere said:
It's been a while (well, 33 years) since I moved away from Edinburgh, but I thought Victoria Street and West Bow were at opposite ends of the Grassmarket. I could be misremembering. I could be Miss Prism, for all I know.
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Victoria Street turns into West Bow as it enters Grassmarket. You’re possibly thinking of West Port which is at the opposite end of Grassmarket?
 
gordonrutter said:
Victoria Street turns into West Bow as it enters Grassmarket. You’re possibly thinking of West Port which is at the opposite end of Grassmarket?
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Ah, that must be it. But I'd remembered West Port and West Bow as separate exits from the Grassmarket at the Lothian Road / Tollcross end. Auld lang syne, indeed.

Thanks, Gordon
 
gordonrutter said:
Kirk fairies, Weir Devil.
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I read an interesting book called Scottish fairy belief by lizanne Henderson in which she argues that most of the 'demonic' trappings gleaned from Scottish witch trials were in fact traditional fairy beliefs interpreted by the court in what was at the time the only religiously and socially acceptable way.
 
James_H said:
I read an interesting book called Scottish fairy belief by lizanne Henderson in which she argues that most of the 'demonic' trappings gleaned from Scottish witch trials were in fact traditional fairy beliefs interpreted by the court in what was at the time the only religiously and socially acceptable way.
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I'm absolutely no expert, but I've often wondered if Scotland's terrible (and sometimes terribly confusing) wars of religion spilled out into the particularly savage treatment of witches. Weir himself is described as an old Covenanter - which sometimes makes me wonder if old scores being settled might not have been part of the tale.

It's some time since I read the book, but William Roughead, in his Twelve Scots Trials, covers the case of Weir. I may have misremembered this but, despite his reputation, I seem to recall that Weir was not in fact charged with witchcraft.

(For anyone interested in Scottish crime Roughead is a must. As well as covering cases contemporary to his own working life Roughead also covered many historical crimes. Not particularly well-known today, he's often cited as one of the first True Crime authors and was popular with other writers of all types - big fans included Dorothy Sayers and Henry James. His book on the Oscar Slater trial was highly influential in popularising the latter's cause and in influencing public opinion in his favour. Roughead is a fantastic storyteller, although his self-consciously old fashioned style may be offputting for some readers; I'm a huge fan but even so find some of his later writing gives me a touch of mental indigestion.)
 
Spookdaddy said:
I'm absolutely no expert, but I've often wondered if Scotland's terrible (and sometimes terribly confusing) wars of religion spilled out into the particularly savage treatment of witches. Weir himself is described as an old Covenanter - which sometimes makes me wonder if old scores being settled might not have been part of the tale.

It's some time since I read the book, but William Roughead, in his Twelve Scots Trials, covers the case of Weir. I may have misremembered this but, despite his reputation, I seem to recall that Weir was not in fact charged with witchcraft.

(For anyone interested in Scottish crime Roughead is a must. As well as covering cases contemporary to his own working life Roughead also covered many historical crimes. Not particularly well-known today, he's often cited as one of the first True Crime authors and was popular with other writers of all types - big fans included Dorothy Sayers and Henry James. His book on the Oscar Slater trial was highly influential in popularising the latter's cause and in influencing public opinion in his favour. Roughead is a fantastic storyteller, although his self-consciously old fashioned style may be offputting for some readers; I'm a huge fan but even so find some of his later writing gives me a touch of mental indigestion.)
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Oh that is great I will hunt that out sounds like a great resource.

Many Thanks
 
Road to Innsmouth said:
Oh that is great I will hunt that out sounds like a great resource...
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Be warned. Roughead's writing is spread around in a slightly confusing, partial and overlapping set of works.

If you are interested in the general subject of classic crimes then, to my mind, the most accessible collection is the New York Review Books publication, Classic Crimes - William Roughead, with an introduction by Luc Sante - and this satisfyingly chunky paperback is still available for a few quid (used) on Amazon.

However, although there are historical cases in that collection, Major Weir's is not one of them. I did however find a somewhat fragmented online copy of Twelve Scots Trials (link here).

The chapter on Major weir starts here. Unfortunately the first page, and one or two others, are missing.

(edit: It's maybe worth emphasising that any interest Roughead has in things like witchcraft are peripheral to his interest in crime and criminal proceedings. He's a True Crime writer, not a Fortean one.)
 
Spookdaddy said:
Be warned. Roughead's writing is spread around in a slightly confusing, partial and overlapping set of works.

If you are interested in the general subject of classic crimes then, to my mind, the most accessible collection is the New York Review Books publication, Classic Crimes - William Roughead, with an introduction by Luc Sante - and this satisfyingly chunky paperback is still available for a few quid (used) on Amazon.

However, although there are historical cases in that collection, Major Weir's is not one of them. I did however find a somewhat fragmented online copy of Twelve Scots Trials (link here).

The chapter on Major weir starts here. Unfortunately the first page, and one or two others, are missing.

(edit: It's maybe worth emphasising that any interest Roughead has in things like witchcraft are peripheral to his interest in crime and criminal proceedings. He's a True Crime writer, not a Fortean one.)
Click to expand...

Many thanks.
I do have an interest in true crime also so would still probably be worth me investing. I'm used to reviewing scientific papers and gleaning the information I need so it being a bit fragmented shouldn't be too much of a problem but forewarned is forearmed.

Many thanks for all your help.
 
Spookdaddy said:
It's maybe worth emphasising that any interest Roughead has in things like witchcraft are peripheral to his interest in crime and criminal proceedings. He's a True Crime writer, not a Fortean one.
Click to expand...

I have just picked up a copy of Scots crimes on abebooks. Bad enabler! Bad enabler! :)
 
Frideswide said:
I have just picked up a copy of Scots crimes on abebooks. Bad enabler! Bad enabler!
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I've just been reading in Richard Whittington-Egan's biography of Willie that there exists a letter which is the only remnant of a correspondence with M R James. It's not all that surprising that two such popular writers and avid epistolgraphers should have communicated – but still, it’s nice to see a proof of the connection.

The cause of the communication was a request from MR James for a copy of Twelve Scots Trials. Whittington Egan suggests that Monty’s interest may have been stirred by the inclusion of the chapter, The Ghost of Sergeant Davies*. However, I’m not so sure that his interests were that circumscribed; I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that Monty liked a good crime story for its own sake – his narrator in A Neighbour’s Landmark states that he is a reader(s) of the State Trials, and Martin’s Close clearly shows knowledge of and interest in such matters. I also believe that there is a broader underlying connection between an interest in crime and an interest ghost stories, but that’s probably a matter for another conversation.

gordonrutter said:
Victoria Street turns into West Bow as it enters Grassmarket...
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In the same book as mentioned above Roughead refers to the vicinity of Weir's house as 'the Bends' - I assume in reference to the steeply winding nature of the original road, which was long gone and somewhere under Victoria Street (ish) by Roughead's time. Self-conscious anachronism was part of his style, but it would be interesting to know if the nickname did in fact survive, for any length of time, the destruction of the physical features it referred to.

*Edit: Link to the story of Sergeant Arthur Davies here.
 
Spookdaddy said:
I assume in reference to the steeply winding nature of the original road, which was long gone and somewhere under Victoria Street (ish) by Roughead's time.
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I saw this discussion of the West Bow which enabled me to trot to my hallway and take a photo of part of a facsimile of an old map that hangs there. It gives an idea (if you know that part of Edinburgh), just how steep the upper part of it must have been:


West Bow.jpg
1591798673675.png


Assuming that we can take it that the Upper Bow on the modern map is the upper part of the street shown on the 17th century one - 'the Bends' might be where the old street dog-legged. Which would be here in this day and age:

1591799143472.png

That's Upper Bow continuing above and behind the blue shop, now severed from it's lower end by the 19th century creation of Victoria Street.
 
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