Tragic Tales of Covenanter Women
by Evelyn McKechnie
Wigtown – Martyrs Stake
The estuary of the River Bladnoch leads out to the nature reserve of Wigtown Bay in the south of Scotland. This beautiful location was the scene of one of the most brutal executions during the ‘Killing Times’ (1680-1685), when two women were forcibly drowned.
There is a raised wooden platform that takes you right out into the mudflats to the very location of the executions.
THE COVENANTERS
Covenanters were people who wanted to worship in the Presbyterian faith, which believed no one but God and Christ could be at the head of their religion. On the opposing side were the supporters of King James II who wanted to see the Roman Catholic church restored.
During the 17th century there was a dispute between the Church and the Monarchy. England’s church was Episcopalian, the King as its head and his appointed Bishops responsible for each diocese.
Scotland’s church was different, it was Presbyterian, with no head of the church but Christ and under the leadership of preachers like John Knox.
In Scotland, people appointed their own parish ministers.
The National Covenant
Many kings over the decades campaigned against the Covenanters with fines, banishment, legislations, sanctions and rulings.
However, now the King was ruling over both countries and he tried to force Episcopalianism on Scotland. Many people refused and signed a National Covenant. They became known as the ‘Covenanters’.
The Killing Times
The ‘Killing Times’ began in the late 1680s when many Covenanters were hunted down and brutally killed. Wigtown was the scene of some of these vicious killings and those who died in 1685 became the ‘Wigtown Martyrs’.
Two Covenanter women, Margaret Maclachan (63) and Margaret Wilson (18) were tied to stakes in the mudflats and drowned in the rising tide.
They were tried for ‘nonconformity’ for attending illicit field-preachings. On 11th May 1685, in an attempt to force them to sign the ‘Abjuration Oath’, they were dragged out and tied to stakes in Wigtown Bay.
Despite the rising tide, the women refused to recant their faith, and drowned. The older woman, Margaret McLachlan had been tied deeper in the river channel out in the bay.
Kirkinner records state that Margaret McLachan’s head had been ‘held down within the water by one of the town officers by his halberd at her throat, til she died.‘ (Legend has it that for the rest of his life this man had an unquenchable thirst, having to stop at every ditch for a drink or stream. He was also deserted by his friends)
The 18 year old Margaret Wilson witnessed the death of the older woman. Some present hoped that she would relent and take the ‘Abjuration Oath’ to swear allegiance to the king and renounce the Covenant. However, it backfired as she took strength from the resolve of Margaret McLachlan.
The ‘Wigtown Martyrs’ were buried in the churchyard, along with three men who were hanged for their religious beliefs later that same year.
Wigtown Martyrs Graves
The Wigtown Martyrs Monument – Stirling
The Wigtown Martyrs Monument, in the cemetery of the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling depicts Margaret Wilson, one of the covenanter martyrs, reading the Bible with her young sister Agnes, watched over by a despairing guardian angel.
Wigtown Martyrs Memorial in Stirling Holy Rude Cemetery
There is an plaque which is inscribed:
‘Margaret, Virgin Martyr of the Ocean Wave, with her like-minded sister Agnes. “Love, many waters cannot quench” – God saves His chaste impearled One! in Covenant true. “O Scotia’s daughters! earnest scan the Page” And prize this Flower of Grace blood-bought for you. Psalms IX.XIX.’
Throughout the cemetery are a number of interesting 17th and 18th century headstones, but the most unusual gravestone is the Service Stone which was erected about 1636. This unusual headstone was probably used for cover during the siege of 1651 and both sides of it are pitted with musket ball shots.
There are countless memorials all over Scotland to the Covenanters. I personally found the mudflat stake memorial at the actual execution location of the two Margaret’s, especially poignant. Such a beautiful location where two brave women’s life were snuffed out in such a manner – forced drowning. Its haunting.
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