Echoes from the Past

Today was the day we had been practising for for the last few weeks.  A friend of mine, Sheena Graham George, had had a month long Artist Residency with St Magnus Cathedral and Orkney Islands Council, exploring the witchcraft trials of the 16th and early 18th century in Orkney.

St Magnus cathedral is unique in the British Isles as it has its own dungeon, known as "Marwick's Hole".  Women who were accused of witchcraft were tried in the cathedral and held in Marwick's Hole before being taken to be burned or hung.  

From a tiny alcove, high up in the roof space, three of us sang the names of nearly 70 women who had been put to death, there were also many whose names were not recorded, as a plainsong chant.  It was interspersed with recorded sounds of the Orkney landscape,  wind and waves and bird song.  Other recorded voices told of superstitions and folk beliefs which have been passed down to today's generations, and which would have resulted in witch trials in days gone by.

We also sang the Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant us peace), and another piece, it was incredibly moving, especially realising that, there but for the grace of God, any one of us could have been similarly condemned.