Witch Wood
1927 novel by John Buchan
Witch Wood is a 1927 historical novel by the Scottish author John Buchan, set in the Scottish Borders during the 17th-century Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It follows the story of a young Church of Scotland minister, newly-arrived in a rural parish, who is undermined by devil-worshipping parishioners. A substantial part of the dialogue is in Scots.
Buchan wrote the novel while researching Montrose, his biography of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, who appears as a minor character. Buchan's research had raised questions of seventeenth-century religious tolerance, which he wanted to explore. Drawing on elements of Margaret Murray’s witch-cult hypothesis, the book combines Buchan's wider interests in landscape, 17th century Calvinism, and the history of Scotland. It was the author's favourite novel and has come to be regarded as his masterpiece.
Plot
In a prologue to the novel, the narrator muses on the rural parish of Woodilee in the Scottish Borders. Looking at its now-ruined parish kirk, he recalls a legend about its last minister, who disappeared without trace 300 years ago. Locals believe that he was spirited away by the fairies or, as some maintain, by the devil.
The public source identifies “Witch Wood” as 1927 novel by John Buchan. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Witch, Wood and novel.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8027856. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1927.
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This entry incorporates text from “Witch Wood” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.