IT IS 420 years to the day since she was burned as a witch.

But to commemorate the anniversary of her death, the St Andrews ‘witch’ Alesoun Peirsoun, played by Shirley Young, will lead a special tour around the town.

Shirley, who runs the Original St Andrews Witches Tour, said Alesoun, of Byrehills, had been accused in 1583 of being one of three witches who tried to cure the Bishop of St Andrews Patrick Adamson of an ailment which had kept him confined to his castle for three months.

She said, “The Kirk Session ruled that she should be held in the bishop’s castle until such time as sentence could be carried out against her, but she escaped and lived for another five years before finally meeting her doom on Edinburgh’s Castle Hill.”

Alesoun was said to be a healer and there are reports of her taking fits.

Shirley said, “She was just an ordinary woman who might or might not have suffered from epilepsy and who tried to help people.”

Tours are run on Thursdays and Fridays but an extra tour is being held tonight at 7.30pm to mark the anniversary.