This is a memorial to martyrs...
who died terribly for their faith in a different time.
A lot has changed, but today I want you to hear their voices.
If you re interested in the people places and events in Scottish history,
then click the subscribe button at the bottom right of the screen
and ring the notification bell to find out when I upload new videos.
In the meantime, let me tell you a story. I say time has changed,
but the very landscape has changed. I m told that back then, on 11th May 1685,
the mouth of the river Bladnoch ran far closer to this church.
That s a place we ll come back to later in the story...
...but to tell you the story I m going to take you half a mile south
to where that river empties into Wigtown Bay today...
and where our story will take us. I have to walk,
but please stay with me for a minute or two so that I can give you the background.
You see the story I m going to tell you happened in the Killing Times.
In 1638 thousands of Scots had signed the National Covenant....
It s what started the War of the Three Kingdoms...
what some of our cousins abroad might think of as The English Civil War.
I ve made videos on The Covenanters and Who Started the English Civil War...
spoiler alert, it was us. Anyway you ll get a link up there.
A quick oversimplification.
There was conflict between church and state, as to who had priority.
Charles I... and then his sons Charles II and James VII thought the state...,
in the form of the King. Good Scottish Presbyterians
thought Christ s church had supremacy and, in spiritual things, Kings were just members
of the congregation... like you and me...
Thousands signed the National Covenant to make the point.
Charles II himself was forced to sign the covenant before being crowned king of Scots at Scone...
I ve got a video that covers the significance of that coronation....
Down here in Galloway was Covenanter country. But once Charles II took the throne in England,
he felt powerful enough to renege on the oaths he d given to the Covenant in order
to take the Scottish crown... and that spelled trouble
Straight away he passed The Abjuration Act of 1662
rejecting the 1638 National Covenant and the 1643 Solemn League and Covenant.
There was a spiral of persecution, refusal to cooperate,
ministers thrown out of churches, open air services, more suppression,
uprising, military crackdowns and executions till by the time Charles II died
in 1685 he d taken many with him. People could be asked on the spot
to swear the Oath of abjuration... and for the treasonous rebel who refused...
which all good Presbyterians must... the consequences could be deadly.
That s the background to the events surrounding 11th May 1685...
so what led up to it? Gilbert Wilson, of Glenvernock in the parish
of Penningham, around ten miles north of here, was a gentleman in good circumstances.
He had a well-stocked farm on fertile land. You could say he was comfortable.
He and his wife conformed to the religious orthodoxy of the state.
That is, he attended the Church of Scotland
but, unlike some of the more radical Covenanting elements,
accepted the episcopalian impositions of Bishops by the king in London.
But his kids... They were a worry.
Margaret not quite eighteen, Thomas less than sixteen,
and Agnes barely a thirteen-year-old child... they weren t prepared to accept the idea of royal
sovereignty over the church, as there dad was. To these children it was a matter of faith.
These were dangerous times to have beliefs like that..
so, like many others, they had to take to the hills...
living in bogs, hiding in caves, wandering over the Carrick, Galloway, and Nithsdale hills
children trying their best to stay warm and live off the land
living underground in more ways than one... hoping that someone would give food and aid.
...but their parents couldn t help them. Despite HIS conformity,
their dad had been fined for his children s beliefs and alleged misconduct.
On top of that he was warned that to harbour or provide for his children
would lead to the most severe punishment. Soldiers, up to a hundred at a time,
were quartered on his property and free to take what they wanted.
He was harassed and taken to court, so that by his early death any
wealth he had was gone and his widow had to rely on
the generosity of family for survival. Now when Charles II died repression
seemed to slacken just a little. The fugitives felt a little safer.
Agnes and Margaret left the hills and ventured here into Wigtown for a visit.
They came across Patrick Stuart... who they thought to be a friend...
but this acquaintance proposed drinking the new king s health,
knowing that the girls, who chose to live exposed to the elements rather than deny God his place,
would politely refuse... and so their antagonist
went straight to the authorities, informed against them and brought soldiers
to capture them. They were thrown into
the thief s hole, where they languished until they were taken to the Tollbooth.
There they met Margaret McLauchlan, a sixty-three-year-old woman,
held for the same crimes of refusing to take the oath of abjuration
and insisting on attending presbyterian services and prayer meetings.
At trial they were accused of attending religious meetings in homes and out on the open moors.
More than that these young girls and elderly widowed lady
stood accused of having taken up arms against the king
at the Battle of Airds Moss 70 miles away when Margaret was 13 and Agnes was eight,
and the battle of Bothwell Brig 90 miles away when they were a year younger.
They were, of course found guilty of these ludicrous crimes...,
so a sixty three year old woman, an eighteen-year-old girl
and a thirteen year old child were condemned to death.
On 11th May 1685 they would be tied to stakes below the flood line at the mouth
of the river when the tide was out. As the tide came in and the sea level rose
they would slowly drown with the approaching high water.
Gilbert Wilson managed to get his younger daughter out on bail of 100,
from which she absconded, and for which he suffered the rest of his days.
But the day came for his daughter Margaret.
The two women were brought out from the town, guarded by troops
The older woman s stake was fixed further out in the bay,
so that young Margaret would watch her slowly die
and be terrified into taking the oath and renounce her faith.
As the life drained out of Margaret McLauchlan, they asked young Margaret Wilson
what she thought of her fellow martyr struggling with the pangs of death.
She replied, 'What do I see but Christ (in one of his members)...
Think you that we are the sufferers? No, it is Christ in us,
for he sends none a warfare upon their own charges.'
...and she sang the 25th Psalm as the waters rose to cover her.
...but before she was quite dead they pulled her up,
and held her out of the water as she gasped and spluttered for air.
She was asked if she would pray for the King. The teenager answered that she wished the
salvation of all men, and the damnation of none. Some of her relations nearby called
out to the officer in charge Sir, she hath said it, she hath said it.'
... when he came close, and asked her to take the oath of abjuration,
she refused, saying: 'I will not,
I am one of Christ's children, let me go.' and they let her go...
The martyrs were buried in Wigtown old churchyard.
The current church was erected 170 years later, but you can still visit the martyrs gravestones
to the north of the Wigton old Kirk in the place assigned to criminals.
On the edge of the town on Windy Hill there s also a memorial...
I don t have a religion myself, but if you re ever in Galloway,
why not make a stop and take a thought for folk who sincerely died for theirs.
We ve had too much of it in our history. There s a video with more information about
The Covenanters coming up on screen now. To support the channel, click top right and
become a Patreon member, or buy me a coffee in the description below.