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Buried in Blacklaw Parish Church (formerly known as Dolphinton Church) is Major Joseph Learmont of Newholm (NT 081476), who was the leader of the troop of horse belonging to the Covenanters at the Battle of Rullion Green in 1666. His estate was forfeited and given to Hamilton of Wishaw. Learmont also fought at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679. On 7 April 1682 he was sentenced to imprisonment on the Bass Rock, where he remained until the Revolution, five years later. In the late 1960s a secret passage or hideaway was discovered at Newholm, believed to have been used by Learmont when hiding from the dragoons. Learmont was latterly an elder at Dolphinton Parish Church. It is thought that Learmont may have been buried in the Newholm burial ground, which is a rectangular area of the kirkyard, surrounded by a stone kerb, adjacent to the church door. There is no gravestone to Learmont there.
A plaque was affixed to Blacklaw Parish Church in memory of Learmont on Friday 25 May 2007 by the Scottish Covenanter Memorials Association.
Within the church is preserved the original gravestone to the unknown Covenanter who was buried at Black Law, near Dunsyre.
Location: Ordnance Survey National Grid Reference NT 101464, Dolphinton Kirkyard, Dolphinton, Biggar, Lanarkshire.
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