The Witches’ Well

The Witches’ Well is a small memorial drinking fountain set into a wall at the lower end of Castlehill, close to Edinburgh Castle. It was commissioned in 1894 by the urban planner Sir Patrick Geddes and designed by the artist John Duncan. The work is both monument and warning: a public object intended to mark, however quietly, a location associated with executions carried out during Scotland’s witchcraft persecutions.

The bronze relief combines medical and symbolic imagery. A snake coils around the heads of Hygeia and Asclepius (figures associated with healing), while other details include plants, an “evil eye,” and hands linked to cure and protection. Roman numerals reference the period commonly associated with Scotland’s most intense witch-hunting, emphasising the historical framing of the memorial rather than any endorsement of the accusations that led to death sentences.

Its darker significance lies in scale and placement. Unlike large civic memorials, The Witches’ Well is easy to miss, reflecting how mass persecution can be folded into the everyday fabric of a city. The plaque and imagery have also been criticised for wording that appears to assume the victims’ supernatural powers, highlighting a persistent tension between commemoration and mythmaking. As a result, the site functions as both a rare marker of historical injustice in Edinburgh and an example of how witch-trial memory is often filtered through symbolism, folklore, and tourism.