The Witches’ Well

Castle Hill, Edinburgh EH1 2ND

The Witches’ Well is a monument to accused witches burned at the stake in Edinburgh. It is attached to a wall at the lower end of the Castle Esplanade. The bronze sculpture around the drinking fountain was commissioned by Sir Patrick Geddes in 1894, and designed by renowned Victorian artist, John Duncan. The waterspout, now dry, is located beneath the snake’s head. In the top left and bottom right are the Roman numerals for the years 1479 and 1727 respectively, the dates of the earliest and latest known executions of Scottish witches.  

The plaque above the fountain was mounted on the wall in 1912 and has been criticised for being historically inaccurate, as it assumes that the executed witches had ‘exceptional knowledge’ which they used for ill or good. The idea that some accused witches really ‘used their exceptional knowledge for evil purposes’ is regarded today as historically incorrect. The courts that convicted the witches thought that they had either harmed their neighbours by wicked magic, or made a pact with the Devil, or both. These accusations are not credible today, though they seemed credible at the time. A minority of the accused witches had used what they saw as good magic, for healing or divination. This in itself was not considered to be witchcraft, but it could be misinterpreted as evidence of harmful magic. To modern viewers, the image of the snake might conjure associations with the Devil (as the serpent in the Garden of Eden). Accused witches though, were victims of demonology, falsely accused of serving the devil, so having a serpent on a memorial to them, however it was originally intended, is unfortunate.

Sources:

• Historic Environment Scotland, “Statement of Significance: Edinburgh Castle – Esplanade”, 2021.
• Wikipedia: Witches’ Well – Edinburgh