Linn's Tomb


	Scottish Covenanter Memorials Association


	Linn's Tomb


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	It was the spring of 1685. A shepherd from Derry Farm tended his flock on the moor on Craigmoddie Fell. While the sheep grazed quietly about him, he sat near the crest of the hill and read his pocket Bible. Lieutenant-General William Drummond, whose brutal, relentless pursuit of Covenanters had earned him the nickname "Herod" Drummond, was leading his men across southern Ayrshire. As they advanced toward Wigtownshire, a number of lapwings flying in the distance suggested that some danger threatened their nests. Suspecting the cause of their distress might be human, Drummond led his men across the border. Approaching Craigmoddie Fell, they saw someone near the top of the hill and circled around to take him by surprise. When they found him in possession of a pocket Bible, Drummond decided that was cause enough to condemn the man. And so, Alexander Linn, a simple shepherd, was ambushed, shot, and killed for his faith. Later, when Linn's lifeless body was found, it was buried where he had died. The place, described by Rev. William Mackenzie as a bleak, romantic spot, was marked by a memorial stone. One hundred forty-two years later, Rev. William Symington of Stranraer conducted a memorial service at the grave of Alexander Linn. A stone wall was built around the grave, its stone placed in the wall, and a new stone added. The new stone repeated the inscription from the old (correcting the spelling of the name Drummond) and included a post script: (continued bottom left)


	Above--gravestone at Linn's Tomb Below--general view


	Linn's Tomb is to be found on Wigtownshire Moors at NX 244726 (OS Landranger map no. 76) It is south west of Derry farm, across the open moorland.


	Memento Mon. Here lies the Body of Alex^r. Linn, who was surprised and instantly shot to death on this place, by Lieut. General Drummond for his adherence to Scotland's Reformation, covenants national ~ solemn league. 1685. ~ Renewed in 1827 in consequence of a sermon preached on this spot by the Rev^d. W. Symington of Stranraer. Contend for the faith & c. The grave is in so remote and wild a place that Mackenzie also wrote ... It was [a] matter of surprise, that a congregation could be collected there to hear [a] sermon. ... "Yet," says an eye witness, "we had a large and most attentive audience, people having gathered from a wide circle of the surrounding country. It was with great difficulty that Dr. Symington could find his way to the spot on the Sabbath morn; but as he approached it, he perceived people streaming towards it from all quarters. A temporary pulpit was erected near the martyr's grave. The audience listened with much pleasure, to a long and moving discourse, from Jude 3. An Old elder from Ayrshire, officiated as precentor, and gave plaintive martyrs worthy of the name ...'' Sixty years after Symington's sermon, another memorial service was conducted at Linn's tomb; in twenty-four and twenty-five years more, yet another and another. Eventually, a second new stone was added to the stone wall, commemorating the 1887, 1911, and 1912 services. RENEWED IN CONSEQUENCE OF


	A SERMON PREACHED HERE BY THE REVD. A. F. MITCHELL, MINISTER OF KIRKCOWAN, ON THE 14^TH AUGUST 1887. Text 144^TH Psalm, 15^th Verse. "Happy is that people whose GOD is the LORD." This Tomb was Rebuilt after a Service Here in 1911 Was Rededicated on the 28^th May 1912 By The Rev^d. R.L. Johnstone Kirkcowan. In another fifteen years, then, there was yet one more commemoration at the tomb. A 1927 service was noted by an addendum to Alexander Linn's original 1685 stone, on which Drummond's name had been written Drumand. A COMMEMORATION SERVICE WAS HELD HERE ON THE 31^ST JULY 1927 AND THEREAFTER THIS MEMORIAL WAS RESTORED. On that spring day in 1685, what words of God were last on the heart and mind of Alexander Linn as he read the scriptures? What promises of the Lord ushered him into his heavenly home as he left his earthly abode? Inside his tomb's enclosure, a rose is growing. On the hills around, sheep still graze. Loretta Lynn Layman