THE COVENANTER BANNER. A verse by an Ayrshire Elder sent to Rev Mr Steele of Dalry, and read at a bi centenary. Johnson`s Treasury p565-6. Blow softly, ye breezes, by mountain and moor, O`er the graves of the Covenant men, By the muirland and flood that were red with their blood, Can ye waft the […]
The Revenge of Charles II – the Restoration 1660-1688. The return of Charles II from exile in 1660 began a period that Macaulay termed “the reign of saints to be succeeded by the reign of strumpets.” What in fact it became was a reign of revenge as Charles persecuted those who had so badly treated […]
Blackness Castle Blackness Castle at Falkirk, stands on the tip of a headland jutting out into the Forth and was designed, in 1440, to protect the port of Blackness and the hinterland of Linlithgow . A former castle home it was strengthened and turned into a military fortification by Sir James Hamilton of Finnart in […]
Engagers and the Engagement 1648 There was first an oath, the “Solemn Engagement“ among the English Independent`s New Model Army which emphasised the views of Cromwell. Subsequently there were two agreements or treaties called the “Engagement “, one in Scotland and the other in Ireland. The Solemn Engagement. This was an agreement drawn up by […]
The Presbytery of Paisley and the pursuit of papists. At the turn of the sixteenth century the concerns for the `trew religioun` and the fear of a return to Catholicism or papacy were very much in the mind of the relatively new Presbyterian Church. Thus Paisley Presbytery was not alone in being charged with the […]
A Childrens` Covenant A Covenant Transaction with the Lord, by a society of Young Children, who met together in a meeting in Pentland Town, in the time of Persecution, when there was no faithful minister in Scotland, anno 1683, ere that great burning and shining light, Mr. James Renwick, came an ordained minister from Holland. […]
Peden at the Grave of Cameron by Mrs A Stuart Menteath (1843). from ” Lays of the Kirk and Covenant”, W S. Sime, Glasgow,1892. p 72 et seq. A sound of conflict in the moss ! but that hath passed away, And through a stormy noon and eve the dead unburied lay; But when the […]
The episcopal honeymoon. The struggle against the `Divine Right` policies of the Stuart kings included the imposition of episcopacy on the Presbyterian Church in Scotland. The seventeenth century saw three periods of ascendancy for each practice, underlying which was the friction between moderate ministers who were prepared to accept varying degrees of change, and a […]
HISTORICAL LANDMARKS A TIME LINE FOR THE ULSTER SCOTS AND A BACKCLOTH TO THE EMIGRATION FROM SCOTLAND AND IRELAND 1600 -1840 Year 1603 Irish revolt suppressed by Mountjoy. Accession of James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England and Ireland; pursues `Divine Right` policies aiming to be supreme in both State and Church throughout Britain. Fire and Sword […]
Rev Donald Cargill . In every group or society there is always someone that everyone turns to for advice or guidance on a topic, and so it was with the Rev. Donald Cargill. By nature said to be timid and shrinking from confrontation, yet this belies the steel in his backbone that enabled him to be […]
THE COVENANTER’S DEATH. Slow sank the red sun down to rest Amid a stormy bank of cloud That gathered deep’ning in the west, As forming for that sun a shroud, In which to quench the last faint ray That shed a glory o’er departing day. That setting sun was but a form And shadowy type […]
Covenanter CDs. Many of the Covenanter Memorials are scattered in the moors and hills of South West Scotland and may only be reached by the experienced hill walker. It is therefore a real pleasure to find a CD that is a dedicated collection of excellent photographs and includes some of these remoter monuments. The CD […]
Catholic resurgence under James II. The long held fears that James II would reintroduce Catholicism came to fruition in Scotland with many deliberate, overt and contentious acts in 1685-8 – almost as if testing the waters before trying anything so blatant in England. It was a fact that there was a strong nucleus of Roman […]
Prisoners transferred from Leith Tolbooth to Edinburgh Tolbooth. ( The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, Vol 12 p 184). These 19 prisoners were transferred from Leith Tolbooth to Edinburgh Tolbooth in October 1685 and ordered to be held in irons because, it seems , some or all of them, tried to escape. Included among […]