|
Recently I paid a visit to Douglas in order to visit a few sites with Covenanter associations. First stop was the Douglas Heritage Museum, where a banner hangs on the wall. Although this only dates from 1745, the flag bears the legend Jehovah Nissi 1745 For God and the Covenanted Work of Reformation. Also in the museum is a tiny tray around four inches by two inches. A brass plaque informs us that 'This tray is made from part of a room door at Lower Skellyhill Lesmahagow which was in use during the life time of the owner David Steel who was shot at Skellyhill for his adherence to the Covenant on 20th December 1686.'
The nearby graveyard has a granite headstone (pictured) which has as part of its inscription the words 'John Willison, tenant in Glengeith 1683-4 etc. a staunch Covenanter whop escaped his persecutors, died and was buried in Crawford.'
Visible from the kirkyard is the former Tolbooth and Sun Inn in the village (pictured), which has now been converted into a family home. It was here that the head and hands of Rev Richard Cameron were kept overnight on the night of the Battle of Airds Moss. They were cut from his body and taken to Edinburgh by James Bruce in order to claim the reward on his head.
I have also recently been informed that a cave where James Gavin, the Douglas Covenanter who is commemorated by a cairn in the village's Main Street, has been rediscovered. It is located in the Townhead Wood, by the side of the Arnesalloch Burn. Gavin had his ears cut off by Graham of Claverhouse around 1684. He was banished to Barbados but was able to return. The lintel of his home has been built into the cairn, with Gavin's initials and that of his wife, Helen Dickson, as well as a representation of a pair of shears. These are thought to represent his ears torture, but the lintel also includes an old smoothing iron, which with the shears is more likely to indicate Gavin's trade as a tailor. His memorial cairn has a plaque stating:
ON THIS SITE DWELT
JAMES GAVIN TAILOR
A HERO OF THE COVENANT, HE INCURRED
THE SPECIAL ENMITY OF CLAVERHOUSE WHO
WANTONLY SEVERED THE EARS FROM HIS HEAD
WITH GAVIN'S OWN SHEARS
ABOUT THE YEAR 1684
TO COMMEMORATE AND PERPETUATE THE
BRUTAL OUTRAGE GAVIN CARVED
THE STONE WHICH IS SET INTO THIS CAIRN
AND PUT IT ABOVE THE DOOR OF THE
HOUSE ERECTED BY HIM
ON THIS SITE. YEARS AFTER HIS
RETURN FROM BANISHMENT
TO THE ISLAND OF BARBADOES.
……………………………
BY GIFT OF LANDS FROM
WILLIAM WOOD, ESQ, DOUGLAS
AND JOHN MAXWELL, ESQ, CLYDEBANK.
THIS MEMORIAL GARDEN HAS
BEEN LAID OUT BY THE DISTRICT COUNCIL
TO PERPETUATE THE MEMORY OF
JAMES GAVIN.
Another Douglas Covenanter was Alexander Brown. He was the cousin of the more famous John Brown of Priesthill. Alexander fled from Muirkirk parish and settled at Douglas. He was apparently buried at the west end of the kirkyard.
Gavin and Alexander Brown are thought to be buried in the old kirkyard, but I was not able to locate any memorials to them--can anyone confirm if any exists? DL
|
|
