James B Johnstone
Talk given to Cumnock History Group January 2023
Some local covenanter stories
Background to the covenanter movement
On 28 February 1638 a great crowd of folk crammed into Greyfriars Kirkyaird in Edinburgh. They were there to sign a document that would influence our history for the next fifty years and have consequences far beyond that. The document in question was a letter to King Charles 1 and was entitled ‘A Confession of Faith’ or ‘The National Covenant’ and those signing it became known to history as The Covenanters. It was signed by all classes of folk from the great Lords of Convention such as the Earl of Argyll down to the lowest fishwife from the Lawnmarket. Some nobles signed it for they could see an opportunity for their advancement and consequent wealth and some signed as matter of conscience. Some of the lower folk signed because their great landlords signed it and feared for their livelihood. But the vast majority of the ordinary folk – shopkeepers, blacksmiths, tailors, milkmaids, dressmakers etc. – signed it because they saw the king’s actions not just as an attack on their religious beliefs but on the whole culture and society of Scotland.
To try to understand what motivated the Covenanters we have to go back to the beginnings of the reformation of the church and how it happened in Scotland and England. By the late middle-ages, the Roman Catholic church which governed religion in western Europe, was a corrupt and failing organization. Bishops lived like princes in rich palaces. Kings and nobles installed their offspring in sinecures within the church with the wealth that came along with them. (James IV of Scotland made one of his illegitimate sons Bishop of Aberdeen) Those with enough money were able to purchase ‘indulgencies’ whereby their sins would be pardoned if they gave money to enrich the church. And the common folk were still obliged to pay ‘Tithes’, one tenth of their income, to the church.
When the German priest Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five theses to the door of his church in Wittenberg, protesting about the failings of the church, he started a new protesting or protestant branch of Christianity separate from the teachings of Rome. The protestant reformation had begun.
In England, King Henry VIII was in dispute with Pope Clement VII as head of the church over the proposed annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. With the pope consistently failing to grant this, Henry made himself head of the church in England and his government soon ratified the annulment. Though many of the Roman Catholic monasteries and nunneries were dissolved, the hierarchy of the episcopal church with vicars, bishops and archbishops, was maintained with the king as its head. The present monarch is still head of the Church of England.
In Scotland the reformation took a completely different course – it was a bottom-upward revolution. Men like George Buchanan and John Knox took Luther’s attitude that no man should come between you and God, and Christ was the only head of the church. They introduced a presbyterian system of church government where the ordinary church members were in charge of selecting ministers and elders. These ministers and elders were sent as delegates to the presbytery and to a general assembly every year to work out church governance. As part of this system each parish was to have a school administered by the church session. And this same session would oversee local justice eg. breaches of the peace.
When James VI inherited the English throne in 1603, he also inherited the headship of the English church. He also inherited Henry VIII’s belief in the divine right of kings – kings were elected by God to rule over their people. Though this was contrary to both Magna Carta in England, and The Declaration of Arbroath in Scotland, both of which declared that kings only ruled by consent of the people, it was a belief he passed on to his son Charles 1. In their attempts to make both kingdoms into one, both James and Charles became increasingly autocratic. When Charles attempted to force the English episcopal church on Scotland, he met with unexpected resistance for this attack on the presbyterian system was not just an attack on the church but on the education and local justice system of the country, and was seen as an attack on the independence of the country. Hence the gathering, on a cold February day in 1638, to sign the National Covenant in Greyfriars kirkyaird. This Covenant stated that the people signing it accepted Charles as king and ruler of the country but could not accept the episcopal system with its hierarchy and especially him as head of the church. They were happy with the church as it was in Scotland.
Charles ignored the covenant.
He constantly quarreled with the English parliament and the Lords of Convention in Scotland. His downfall came partly when he forced the Scottish church to accept episcopalian governance. Ministers who refused to accept the authority of the bishops were removed from their parishes and ‘curates’ put in their place. These ‘outed’ ministers took to holding services in folk’s houses and then, as the congregations became too large, in the open air sometimes attracting thousands to the meetings. These meetings came to be called conventicles and were held all over the country. As the attendance at conventicles became more common and the attendance at the curate’s kirk became less, these open-air meetings were made illegal and attendees were fined. Charles became more autocratic and a quarrel with his English parliament precipitated the War of the Three Kingdoms or, as it is known down south, the English Civil War when Charles literally lost the head. During the Cromwellian Commonwealth Presbyterianism was tolerated in Scotland. A new covenant, The Solemn League and Covenant, was drawn up in which Cromwell’s parliament recognized the presbyterian system as the church government throughout Scotland and England. The English parliament soon reneged on this. Charles’ son, also a Charles, landed in Scotland in 1650 hoping to regain the crown. He signed the National Covenant thereby securing the presbyterian system of governance for the Church of Scotland. But the royal army was defeated by Cromwell’s at the Battle of Worcester and he went back into exile. On the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 under this Charles, Charles II, the covenanters expected him to keep his promise on signing the Covenant. He reneged and the old troubles started again. The king’s government became more determined to eradicate Presbyterianism. Soldiers were garrisoned in the south-west to administer new laws against conventicles. In our area troops were stationed in Dalmellington, Sanquhar Castle, Sorn Castle, Dean Castle and Newmilns Castle. Military courts were held in Mauchline and Cumnock. Conventicles were dispersed by force by mounted dragoons with many covenanters injured. Ministers were imprisoned for conducting them: the Bass Rock being a favorite. Heavy fines were imposed on anybody suspected of attending a conventicle. Men had to leave home and live as fugitives to prevent repercussions on their families. These men became known as the hillmen.
In early November 1666 an incident occurred that would set the pattern for the next twenty years. A party of six soldiers from the garrison in Dumfries were in St John’s Town of Dalry, Kirkcudbrightshire extracting fines. They were about to torture an old man who didn’t have the money to pay when they were approached by four fugitive hillmen. One of the covenanters had a pistol but no ammunition. The pistol was loaded with fragments of an old clay pipe. When he fired, some of the fragments injured one of the soldiers and the rest surrendered. Realizing they had just committed an act of treason for which they could be hanged, the covenanters decided to take their prisoners to Dumfries to explain their actions to the commander of that area, Sir James Turner, gathering support on the way. When Turner refused to listen to their plea, they took him prisoner as well. Then they decided to march to Edinburgh to explain their actions to the government. They marched came through Dalry, Carsphairn and Dalmellington to Ayr gathering more and more to the cause as they travelled. In Ayrshire they were joined by Lieutenant James Wallace, Captain John Paton and the old soldier John Nisbet of Hardhill who organized the rag-taggle covenanters into an organized marching unit. More volunteers joined them as they marched to Ochiltree where they camped for the night. They then marched through Cumnock, and Muirkirk and on to Lanark. By the time they reached Lanark the host might have been two and half to three thousand strong. By this time the government in Edinburgh saw this protest as an armed insurrection and an army under General Tam Dalyell was mobilized to confront the covenanters. Armed insurrection? Farmers and tradesmen armed only with the tools of their trade – pitchforks and scythes, blacksmith’s hammers – and women with carving knives and cudgels. Some firearms were acquired on the march but they were few and most of the marchers had no experience of using them. Had they stayed in Lanark, the covenanters might have had a chance of stating their case but they decided to press on to Edinburgh. The long march through tough terrain, the November weather, the lack of provisions, being away from home for so long and the threat of Dalyell’s army descending on them at any time, took their toll on the marchers. Many decide to return home. By the time the marchers had rounded the Pentland Hills to a place called Rullian Green outside Pennicuik, they were reduced to around nine hundred ill armed, poorly trained, exhausted individuals. Here they were confronted by around three thousand of Dalyell’s well-armed professional troops. The result was inevitable. The covenanters were routed. Many were killed in the affray, some were taken prisoner to be executed later, some were sent to America as slaves and some escaped to live the life of fugitives in the hills and moors of the south-west.
Under the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, on the Grassmarket was the site of the public gallows. It was here that many of the prisoners of Rullian Green were executed. Among those were John Ross of Mauchline and George Crawford from Cumnock. Others were sent to the south-west to be executed as a warning to that area. This monument was constructed in 1937
The debacle of Rullian Green hardened the attitudes on both sides. The covenanters held larger and larger conventicles; the government sent more troops. In 1670, at a conventicle held at Hill o Beath near Dunfermline, covenanters carried firearms for the first time. Firearm skirmishes were to be the custom for the next few years. In 1677 the government assembled a host of eight thousand highlanders to be sent to pacify the south-west. This Highland Host as it came to be known were a law unto themselves. They were quartered on suspected covenanters often for weeks at time abusing their hosts, eating and drinking their food supplies and when they left, they looted the house. It is estimated that the parishes of New Cumnock and Old Cumnock sustained losses to the value of over £3000 to the highland host – a huge sum in those days. They were despised by covenanter and regular troops alike.
On 1st of June, 1679 the Rev. Thomas Douglas was to hold a conventicle at Harelawhill just over the Lanarkshire boundary around two miles east of the present town of Darvel in Ayrshire. Around two hundred and fifty people were gathered for the service when the posted sentries became aware of a troop of dragoons under the command of John Graham of Claverhouse, approaching from the east.
Claverhouse was in Lanarkshire in search of Covenanters and had already captured fourteen. He was in Strathaven when he was informed of the conventicle being held six miles to the west and set off with a party of around a hundred and fifty well-armed dragoons. He left his prisoners tied up at the farm of North Drumclog and went to face the covenanters.
The covenanters had been well warned of the approach of the soldiers and decided to stand and fight. Sir Robert Hamilton was appointed captain. He had at his disposal around fifty horse, fifty foot with muskets and a few swords. The rest of his army were equipped with pikes, pitchforks and other farming equipment. He also sent to Darvel for the old soldier John Nisbet in Hardhill Farm. On his way to the fight Nisbet picked up John Morton, the Darvel blacksmith.
Whether the dragoons were inexperienced or just didn’t have the desire to fight, they soon gave way and scattered. In the ensuing rout Claverhouse just managed to escape with his life, having his horse stabbed by a covenanting pike. When the poor beast eventually expired, he was lucky enough to find another on which he rode to Strathaven leaving his prisoners to be rescued. This John Graham was the Bonnie Dundee of Walter Scott’s song. He was killed supporting the Stuart cause at the battle of Killikrankie. To the covenanters he was known as Bluidy Clavers and he was to take an appalling revenge on covenanters later.
Of the two hundred and fifty covenanters only one, John Morton, was killed on the field when he raised his head from a barricade to see what was happening and was struck by a musket ball. Five others – Thomas Fleming, John Gebbie, William Dingwall, James Thomson and Thomas Weir – later died of their wounds. It was thought that around thirty dragoons were killed.
Boyed with their success at Drumclog, the covenanters decided to gather an army and march to Edinburgh to put pressure on the government. On 22 June, at the bridge over the Clyde at Bothwell they were met by a well-armed government army 5000 strong under the Duke of Monmouth, King Charles’ illegitimate son. Due to internal disputes, some of the covenanters left the field before any fighting started. Despite inferior numbers, lack of artillery and poor leadership they put up a formidable resistance but the result was inevitable. When the fight appeared lost a small party under David Hackston held the bridge and allowed the main army to regroups. Eventually this band had to flee as superior government forces swarmed the bridge. We will meet David Hackston later in our tale.
Government reprisals were swift and extreme. It is estimated that around twelve hundred covenanters – men, women and children – were taken prisoner and marched to Edinburgh where they were held for months in an open-air prison in Greyfriars Kirkyaird. Some succumbed to their wounds, some were executed, some died of exposure as the starvation rations and the autumn weather set in, some escaped as bribed guards turned a blind eye and some were sent to the American colonies as slaves. By November 257 men remained in the prison. Late that month they were marched out of the prison. They had been sold by the provost of Edinburgh to William Paterson, Captain of the ship Crown of London, to be sold as slaves in the Carolinas. As the ship rounded the Orkneys in December it encountered a winter storm and was driven aground near Deerness on the Orkney Mainland. Paterson ordered ‘the cargo’ to be locked in the hold thus preventing escape by the covenanters. When the ship broke up on the rocks and some of the men escaped, they were driven back into the sea by Paterson’s seamen. Of the 257 men that left Leith, 209 were drowned off Deerness. Some of these men were local to us.
John Campbell & Alexander Paterson of Muirkirk
William Drips & William Reid of Mauchline
Walter Humper & Hugh Simson from Dalmellington
John Gemil & James Mirrie from Cumnock
Andrew Richmond from Auchinleck
Andrew Welsh from Ochiltree
Two survived: Hugh Cameron and Quinten McAdam both from Dalmellington.
With the accession of the Roman Catholic James VII in 1685 things became even worse. Then came the period known as the Killing Times. This is when most of the folk buried in our area were killed. Suspected covenanters were given ‘the test’. This was a question as to whether they accepted the king as head of the church. A true presbyterian covenanter could not do this as Christ is the only head of the church. If they refused to accept the king and his bishops, they were arrested, tried and sentenced to death for treason. Or they were simply shot where they were found. Many were shot in remote places returning from conventicles. This situation continued for the next three years until 1688 when James was deposed by the English parliament and William and Mary were invited to take the crown. The new monarchy guaranteed the presbyterian system of the Church of Scotland and brought to an end the period of the covenanter persecution.
Then came the Jacobite uprisings. But that is a different story.
My thanks to Bill Morton for correcting an error regarding John Morton who was killed at Drumclog. March 2024.
Some local covenanter monuments.
Alexander Peden
Alexander (Sandy) Peden was born at Auchencloigh or Auchencluch, now in the parish of Sorn but then in the huge parish of Mauchline, around 1626/7 the son of a minor landowner. After an education at the local school and Glasgow university, Peden was called to the ministry and licensed to preach in November 1659. His first, and only, parish was New Luce on the borders of Galloway and Ayrshire. Here he ministered for four years constantly refusing to accept the Bishop of Galloway as his superior. In 1663 he was removed from his parish. He was to spend the rest of his life conducting conventicles and living the life of a fugitive.
Sandy was capture once, near Colmonel in 1672, and spent four years on the Bass rock. Then it was decided to send him, along with others, to the Carolinas as a slave and he was consigned to an America bound prison ship. Peden was known as the Prophet of the Covenant. One of his prophecies was that there was not a ship built that would take Sandy Peden to America. When the ship reached Gravesend, the captain, realizing that his captives were religious prisoners, set them free. Sandy returned to Scotland to carry out his duties as a covenanting minister and, apart from a short time ministering in Ireland, he was to spend the rest of his days being hunted all over Scotland. As his face was very recognizable, he took to wearing a cloth mask as a disguise.
At conventicles ministers carried out all the functions of the kirk including baptisms and weddings. At one conventicle in Craigie near Kilmarnock Sandy baptized 25 children in one session. In 1682 he married one John Brown of Preisthill to Isobel Weir. At the wedding he told Isobel that she had got a good man and to enjoy him for she wouldn’t have him long. And to have linen laid by for a shroud for when his end came it would be sudden and bloody. We will see how this prophecy was fulfilled later.
Peden died at the age of around sixty at his brother’s farm of Tenshillingside in Auchinleck parish and was buried at night in the cemetery of Auchinleck Kirk. Six weeks after his internment the dragoons from Sorn Castle disinterred his body with the intention of hanging it on the public gallows in Cumnock but, due to the intersession of the Earl of Dumfries, this wasn’t carried out. Instead, they buried poor Sandy at the foot of the gallows as a common criminal. Over his grave three successive monuments were raised though only two survive. Around 1750 the old graveyard in the square was proving a hindrance to traffic travelling through the town. A new place was sought for burials and it was decided to open the new graveyard around the graves of the martyrs, the gallows having been removed.
There are many out of the way places associated with Sandy Peden: Peden’s stones, Peden’s caves, Peden’s thorns Peden’s wells etc. and it is probable that during his lifetime he used most of them.
A skirmish at Drumclog
On 1st of June, 1679 the Rev. Thomas Douglas was to hold a conventicle at Harelawhilljust over the Lanarkshire boundary around two miles east of the present town of Darvel in Ayrshire. Around two hundred and fifty people were gathered for the service when the posted sentries became aware of a troop of dragoons under the command of John Graham of Claverhouse, approaching from the east.
Claverhouse was in Lanarkshire in search of Covenanters and had already captured fourteen. He was in Strathaven when he was informed of the conventicle being held six miles to the west and set off with a party of around a hundred and fifty well-armed dragoons. He left his prisoners tied up at the farm of North Drumclog and went to face the covenanters.
The covenanters had been well warned of the approach of the soldiers and decided to stand and fight. Sir Robert Hamilton was appointed captain. He had at his disposal around fifty horse, fifty foot with muskets and a few swords. The rest of his army were equipped with pikes, pitchforks and other farming equipment. He also sent to Darvel for the old soldier John Nisbet in Hardhill Farm. On his way to the fight Nisbet picked up John Morton, the Darvel blacksmith.
Whether the dragoons were inexperienced or just didn’t have the desire to fight, they soon gave way and scattered. In the ensuing rout Claverhouse just managed to escape with his life, having his horse stabbed by a covenanting pike. When the poor beast eventually expired, he was lucky enough to find another on which he rode to Strathaven leaving his prisoners to be rescued. This John Graham was the Bonnie Dundee of Walter Scott’s song. He was killed supporting the Stuart cause at the battle of Killikrankie. To the covenanters he was known as Bluidy Clavers and he was to take an appalling revenge on covenanters later.
Of the two hundred and fifty covenanters only one – John Morton, the unfortunate Darvel blacksmith – was killed on the field when he raised his head from a barricade to see what was happening and was struck by a musket ball. Five others – Thomas Fleming, John Gebbie, William Dingwall, James Thomson and Thomas Weir – later died of their wounds. It was thought that around thirty dragoons were killed.
The site of the battle has been drained now and planted with conifers. This obelisk was raised in 1867 to replace an older one of 1839.
Boyed with their success at Drumclog, the covenanters decided to gather an army and march to Edinburgh to put pressure on the government. On 22 June, at the bridge over the Clyde at Bothwell they were met by a well-armed government army 5000 strong under the Duke of Monmouth, King Charles’ illegitimate son. Due to internal disputes, some of the covenanters left the field before any fighting started. Despite inferior numbers, lack of artillery and poor leadership they put up a formidable resistance but the result was inevitable. When the fight appeared lost a small party under David Hackston held the bridge and allowed the main army to regroups. Eventually this band had to flee as superior government forces swarmed the bridge. We will meet David Hackston later in our tale.
Government reprisals were swift and extreme. It is estimated that around twelve hundred covenanters – men, women and children – were taken prisoner and marched to Edinburgh where they were held for months in an open-air prison in Greyfriars Kirkyaird. Some succumbed to their wounds, some were executed, some died of exposure as the starvation rations and the autumn weather set in, some escaped as bribed guards turned a blind eye and some were sent to the American colonies as slaves. In late November 257 men were marched out of the prison. They had been sold by the ptovost of Edinburgh to William Paterson, Captain of the ship Crown of London, to be sold as slaves in the Carolinas. As the ship rounded the Orkneys in December it encountered a winter storm and was driven aground near Deerness on the Orkney Mainland. Paterson ordered ‘the cargo’ to be locked in the hold thus preventing escape by the covenanters. When the ship broke up on the rocks and some of the men escaped, they were driven back into the sea by Paterson’s seamen. Of the 257 men that left Leith, 209 were drowned off Deerness. Some of these men were local to us.
John Campbell & Alexander Paterson of Muirkirk
William Drips & William Reid of Mauchline
Walter Humper & Hugh Simson from Dalmellington
John Gemil & James Mirrie from Cumnock
Andrew Richmond from Auchinleck
Andrew Welsh from Ochiltree
Two survived: Hugh Cameron and Quinten McAdam both from Dalmellington.
Sanquhar: The Sanquhar Declaration
on 22nd June, 1680, the first anniversary of the Battle at Bothwell Brig, a party of aroundtwenty armed covenanters of the most radical nature rode up to the market cross in Sanquhar. They were under the direction of the Rev Richard Cameron who was to become known as the Lion of the Covenant and they were there for a purpose. Cameron’s brother, Michael, a read a declaration to the assembled crowd before fixing it to the merkat cross. It was a declaration condemning King Charles as a traitor to the church of Scotland and suggesting that he be removed as king. In the circumstances of the times this was high treason and the covenanters could be hanged for such defiance. It has been suggested that Sanquhar was chosen for this act as it was the closest burgh to Drumlanrig Castle, the seat of the Earl of Queensberry who was a chief government minister to the king. Was it a deliberate act to provoke the government? Did Cameron and his band see themselves as potential martyrs for the cause? Possibly. It had the desired consequences. For immediately a reward of 1000 merks was placed on the head of Cameron and various rewards were offered for the capture of the others.
Airds Moss: Cameron’s stane.
A month after the Sanquhar Declaration was posted, in the afternoon of 22 July 1680 a party of sixty-two covenanters led by David Hackston halted for a meal on the open moorland of Airds Moss in Auchinleck parish. They were joined for the meal by Rev. Richard Cameron* who had spent the previous night at Meadowfoot farm on the bank of the River Ayr. Cameron and his group were wanted by the government for posting their treasonous declaration in Sanquhar the month before and were being actively sought by the government forces. As the covenanters ate, they became aware of the approach of government dragoons under the command of Andrew Bruce of Earlshall. Though the dragoons outnumbered the Covenanters, Cameron decided to stand and fight.
He prayed ‘Lord tak the ripe and spare the green’
The fighting started around four in the afternoon and lasted for an hour or so. At the end of the day 9 covenanters and 28 dragoons lay dead. Amongst the fallen was the Rev. Cameron. David Hackston was captured and carried to a brutal execution in Edinburgh. Four others were captured: John Valance from Auchinleck and a Mr. Manuel died of their wounds while Archibald Allison and John Malcolmson were hanged at the Grassmarket in Edinburgh. After the battle James Skene, Andrew Stuart and John Potter were captured and hanged in Edinburgh.
The bodies of the dead covenanters were left on the moss where they fell. Later local folk buried the bodies of Richard Cameron, his brother Michael, Captain John Fowler, James Gray, John Gemmel, John Hamilton, Robert Dick, Thomas Watson and Robert Paterson on Airds Moss. There is no record of who the dragoons were or where they are buried.
A recumbent stone was laid over the graves sometime around 1707 and this platformed obelisk was raised in 1837. It is clearly visible from the A70 Cumnock to Muirkirk road. In 2006 a new granite stone was laid in place of the original by SCMA with the wording copied on to it.
| * The Cameronian Regiment of the British army (1689-1967) was a regiment raised in Douglas by the Earl of Angus and given its name to commemorate Richard Cameron.
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The Covenanters who fought on Airds Moss were of the extreme radical branch of the society who carried arms against the government and were prepared to use violence to achieve their end. This alarmed the more moderate covenanters who foresaw extreme reprisals from the authorities.
They were not wrong. Persecutions increased.
The Bible Stane
To carry a bible without coming or going to the parish church was a certain indication to the authorities that you had been attending a conventicle. You were given the test and if you failed to respond to the satisfaction of the soldiers, you would be arrested, given a ‘trial’ and sentenced to prison, banishment or even death. Covenanters sought ways of overcoming this problem with bibles. On the moors to the south of Muirkirk stands this boulder. It looks like all the other boulders of the moor. But for one important difference. Cut into the side of it there is a recess. Within this recess was secreted a bible for the use at conventicles. It was closed by a door cut from the same rock thus hiding the contents from anybody passing. We are unsure when the bible stane was created or how often it was used but it was used
William Adam
Close to the River Ayr Way near Muirkirk stands this railed monument. Buried here is William Adam. Adam was a farm labourer on Upper Wellwod Farm in Muirkirk parish. He was a young man engaged to be married. He was a known non-conformist and a poor attender at the local church: It was suspected that he was a covenanter. On a March day in 1685 he was waiting on the bank of the Proscribe Burn near the farm to meet with his fiancée when he became aware of the approach of dragoons under the command of General Thomas Dalyell. It was by the burnside that he was surrounded by the soldiers. Having a bible in his possession was all the evidence that Bluidy Tam needed to sentence him to be shot on the spot. Adam’s fiancée heard the shot and rushed to the meeting place to find the young man dead. His body was buried where he fell by friends including his fiancée.
Thomas Richard
Let’s get back to the Barhill. Also buried here is Thomas Richard. Richard was the farmer of Greenock Mains near Muirkirk. He was eighty years old and a known covenanter. In earlyApril 1685, a group of soldiers heading back to the garrison in Sorn Castle came to Richard’s farm pretending to be covenanters. They carried bibles and preyed with Richard before a meal hoping to trick him into betraying the whereabouts of other wanted men. Richard was taken in until one of the soldiers betrayed himself with an oath whereupon he refused to answer any more of their questions. He was arrested and taken to Cumnock for questioning by Colonel James Douglas who was stationed there at the time. His confession to the soldiers that covenanters had stayed at his farm was enough evidence of guilt in Douglas’ eyes and Richard was sentenced to death. He was shot against the wall of the tolbooth which stood to the north of the Square in Cumnock. His body was buried under the gallows as a sign of disrespect.
Newmilns Castle
Newmilns Castle was used as a government garrison during the time of the troubles. In 1685 it was held by Captain John Inglis. In April 1685, a group of eight covenanters captured at Little Blackwood farm in Kilmarnock parish were being held there for questioning. Inglis found them guilty and had them lined up to be shot but the parishioners of Loudoun appealed and they were returned to the castle vault awaiting orders from Edinburgh for execution. That night a group of sixty men under the leadership of John Bruning (Browning) of Lanfinestormed the garrison and released the prisoners. Two soldiers were wounded in the assault and one Covenanter was killed. John Law was shot by a soldier from the upper window of the tower. Law was buried where he fell in the grounds of the castle.
The gravestone marking his final resting place was incorporated into the wall of the castle grounds. The stone was renewed in 1822, 1830 and 1996. A granite memorial to John Law was built into the wall of Loudoun Parish Kirk, Newmilns in 1996.
James Smith
Smith was a farmer in East Threepwood in Galston Parish high on the valley side to the south of the present town of Galston. After the rescue of the eight covenanters held prisoner in Newmilns Castle in April 1685, Peter Inglis was determined to seek them out for re-capture and ‘trial’. The day after the storming of the castle he set out with a troop of dragoons to scour the countryside around the Irvine Valley. They came across James Smith as he worked his farm. On questioning, Smith confessed to having given food to the fugitives and this was enough for Inglis to arrest him. He managed to escape and ran towards the deep valley of the Burn Ann but was shot and wounded. The dragoons captured him and carried him to Mauchline where he would be held in the castle there and tried by Lieutenant-General Drummond. Smith died of his wounds in the prison before coming to trial and was buried in this remote corner of Mauchline kirkyard.
John Brown
On the desolate moorland to the north of Muirkirk sits this walled monument. Inside the enclosure is the grave of John Brown who farmed Priesthill farm which stood on the flat ground just to the north of the monument. As well as subsistence farming on the moorland here, Brown was a carrier transporting goods all over the south-west. He also carried messages between groups of Covenanters which earned him the name of ‘The Christian Carrier’.
In 1684 Brown was listed as a non-attender at the curate’s church in Muirkirk. He was also suspected of harbouring Covenanters at his remote homestead. This was enough for him to be declared fugitive in a royal proclamation on the 5th of May that year. He was to spend the rest of his life as a wanted man hiding in the hills and moors of the south-west and only visiting his home occasionally. On May 1st 1685 he was back at Priesthill in the company of his nephew, John Bruning of Lanfine, and the Rev Sandy Peden who had conducted his wedding to Isobel three years before and who was a friend of the family. Peden had spent the night in Brown’s house. On the morning of 1st May Peden took his leave of Preisthill saying to Isobel ‘Poor woman! A fearful morning – a dark and misty morning.’ Isobel remembered his prophecy that her husband would be taken from her when she least expected it and realised what Peden was prophesying.
Brown was on the moor with John Bruning cutting peats for the winter fuel when the two were taken by surprise by a party of soldiers under John Graham of Claverhouse, the same who had just escaped with his life from Drumclog. The tow captives taken to Brown’s house to be questioned. Brown’s replies to the questioning were sufficient for Claverhouse to order his execution. The soldiers refused to carry out his orders so Calverhouse drew his pistol and shot Brown through the head in front of his wife and children. This act earned him the epithet ‘Bluidy Claver’s’ amongst the covenanters. ‘Whit dae ye think o yer man noo, Mistress Broon?’ he asked Isobel. She replied ‘I aye thocht muckle o him but noo mare than ever’
John Brown was buried near his farm of Priesthill and this monument was erected over his grave in 1825.
John Bruning was arrested and taken to Mauchline Castle where he was tried by General Drummond for his part in the rescue at Newmilns Castle.
Mauchline Loan
The land near the top of Sorn Road in Mauchline is built up now but it wasn’t always so. In the mid seventeenth century the ground now occupied by houses and Mauchline Primary School was open farm land and moor. It was known as the Loan. It was here that Mauchline gallows stood and it was here that five men – Peter Gillies, John Bryce, Thomas Young, William Fiddiston and John Bruning (Browning) – were hanged for their belief in the covenant. Of the five, only Browning was a native of Ayrshire, his farm of Lanfine being close to Darvel. The other four had been arrested by a party of highlanders at various places in the south-west.
John Bruning (John Browning of Lanfine) was already in custody in Mauchline when the highlanders brought in their captives. Bruning was taken prisoner by Claverhouse when John Brown was shot. He was taken from Priesthill to Mauchline Castle then under the command of Lieutenant-General William Drummond. He was tried along with the others by Drummond on the 5th of May and sentenced to death.
The five men were taken to the Gallows on the Loan and hanged on the day of their trial. As mark of disrespect all five were buried under the gallows as common criminals.
A simple marker stone was laid over the grave in the early eighteenth century and was replaced in 1830. This obelisk was erected in 1883. In the early 2000’s a memorial arch was erected by SCMA and incorporates the eighteenth-century stone on one wall and a new granite replica on the opposite one.
Carsgailloch Hill
In the early summer of 1685, a group of covenanters returning from a conventicle held between Dalmellington and Carsphairn decided to rest for the night in the tod fauld under the crags of Benbeoch near Dalmellington. That evening they were warned by the local farmer that a party of government soldiers, mainly highlanders, were in the area searching for them. With this information they agreed to move on towards Cumnock. The rough going over the moor in the dark took its toll on the group and they decided to rest up in a hollow on Carsgailloch Hill overlooking the town. In the early morning they were surprised by the highlanders under Colonel James Douglas. Three of the party, Joseph Wilson, John Jamieson and John Humphry, were shot on the spot and buried where they fell. An old stone, possibly by Old Mortality, marked the spot and a new monument was erected in 1827. This was renewed in 1867. Part of the original stone is in the Baird Institute in Cumnock
Three others, David Dunn, Alexander Jamieson and Simon Paterson, escaped but were hunted down and captured. The three were taken to Cumnock and locked in the tolbooth there. What happened to Alexander Jamieson we don’t know but Dunn and Paterson were tried by General Drummond and sentenced to be executed. They were shot against the tolbooth wall and buried under the gallows as a sign of disrespect.
Others manged to escape.
Hugh Hutchieson, the farmer of Dalgig who witnessed the shootings was pursued by the highlanders but managed to escape in the bogs towards New Cumnock. Near to the Nith he found a copse of trees where he hid from his pursuers. The highlanders under Douglas moved on. James Campbell of Dalhanna escaped on the slopes of Dalhanna Hill.
By this time Douglas, who had seen at least two covenanters escape, seemed to be in a foul temper and was in no mood for clemency. When he came across George Corson and John Hair on the slopes of the Knypes overlooking the Nith Valley and they were carrying bibles, he had them shot on the spot. The two are buried near where this monument was raised in 1837.
Nothing is known about John Hair but George Corson was a farmer in Glenwharrie Farm in Kirkconnel parish. It is possible that the two men were returning with the party on Carsgailloch Hill.
A plaque on the Carsgailloch monument also commemorates three women, Marion Cameron, Margaret Dunn and Annabel Dunn, who were also shot on this hill returning from a conventicle on the 14th of April 1685. No stone marks the spot of their burial, perhaps somewhere on the Martyr’s Moss just to the south-west of Carsgailloch Hill, but this modern plaque was added to this monument in their memory by SCMS.
Bello Path
On the evening of the 19th of June, 1688, a party of government dragoons escorting the Irish covenanting minister, Rev David Houston*, from Ayr for trial in Edinburgh, stopped for the night at the Blue Tower Inn in Cumnock. A group of local covenanters heard about this and set about planning a rescue of the minister. The following morning, the dragoons resumed their journey. The route was to take them through the narrow pass of Bello Path to the east of the modern village of Lugar. Waiting in ambush there was the party of covenanters intent on freeing Houston. Among their number was John McGeachan, farmer in Auchengibbert, Cumnock. During the skirmish Houston was freed but McGeachan was shot and wounded. A plaque commemorating the rescue was placed at the head of the pass by SCMA.
Though severely injured McGeachan made his way home to Auchingibbert. Fearing repercussions, for he was a known covenanter, and hoping to save his life, his friends hid him in a turf-built shed on the Stanie Park (Stone Park Cottage remembers the auld name) and tended him daily. Over a month later he died of his injuries and was buried near the shed.
A simple stone, possibly by Old Mortality, was erected over the grave in the early eighteenth century and this larger monument was erected within railings in 1836.
Was the recue a success. Yes and no. During the rescue Houston’s horse bolted and the saddle slipped. He was carried upside down under the bolting horse and received severe head injuries from which he never fully recovered. He was never able to preach again.
Sorn
Sorn kirk dates from around 1641 when the parish was separated from the huge Mauchline Parish and a new kirk was established. In a railed enclosure against the east wall of the kirk is the grave of George Wood.
After the rescue of Rev. David Houston in Bello Path, the soldiers from the garrison at Sorn Castle were out looking for those involved. Night came on as they made their way back from the Irvine Valley towards the garrison in Sorn. On Tinkhorn Hill they came across sixteen-year-old George Wood. As it was evening and Wood was in a remote area, he was immediately suspected as coming from a conventicle. Whether this was or was not the case he was not given the chance to say. Without putting questions to the young man Trooper John Reid drew his pistol and shot him in cold blood.
With the date of his murder being 21st June 1688, Wood was not only the youngest to be killed during the killing times, he was also the last.
