An addendum to the previous post 'A Bit of Butter Bother'.
Session records for Yetholm survive from the early 1690s. The photograph above shows one of the earliest surving entries, from 1691. It reads 'John Turnbull and Wm Main is ordered to speak to Isoble Turnbull about hir curning milk or whey the last Lords Day and to report'. John Turnbull and and William Main were elders and clearly someone had reported seeing Isobel Turnbull hard at work churning on the Sabbath. The kirk session acted - in the days before local magistrates or a regular police force - as a court to try and maintain good order in the community, either as regards personal relationships or worship. Most of the early cases they dealt with involved trying to get men to acknowledge and take responsibility for the illegitimate children they had fathered. One one occassion they had to deal with a case of incest, though the father and daughter involved fled the parish before it was sorted out. But they also dealt with offences towards God (especially cursing by invoking the name of the devil) and infringements of the Sabbath, as here. In most such cases the offender usually apologised and promised not to repeat their behaviour. In this case, unfortunately, we don't know how Isobel Turnbull responded when the Elders knocked on her door.
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