View of Martyr's Memorial. Digital image of LA 3616.

Description View of Martyr's Memorial. Digital image of LA 3616.

Date 1983

Collection Papers of Betty Willsher, historian, St Andrews, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 801111

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of LA 3616

Scope and Content Gravestone commemorating John Parker, Gavin Hamilton, James Hamilton and Christopher Strang, Hamilton Parish Church, Cadzow Lane, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire The row of four severed heads represents those of the executed covenanters buried here, each portrayed with distinctive features. Covenanters' monuments are common throughout Scotland, but are particularly prevalent in Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and Galloway, those areas where the movement had the greatest support. The Covenanters were those Scots who sought to defend the rights of the Church of Scotland against the imposition of bishops and Anglican rites, a policy vigorously pursued by the Stuart monarchs. They were persecuted for their refusal to accept the king's rights to impose his will on the Church. Government soldiers were deployed throughout lowland Scotland, and patrolled the countryside with the aim of hunting down anyone suspected of Covenanting or disloyal sentiments, particularly those attending 'Conventicles', the illegal open-air religious meetings led by Covenanting ministers deposed from their parishes. The persecution became particularly bloody between the Restoration of 1660 and the overthrow of James VII/II in 1688, years which became known as the 'killing times'. In 1679, a group of Covenanters defeated a party of soldiers sent to break up their prayer meeting. This victory at Drumclog in Lanarkshire sparked a rebellion, and their forces briefly occupied Glasgow before being totally routed by a large Royalist army at the Battle of Bothwell Brig. Those not killed in the fighting, or the subsequent rout, were taken to Edinburgh where many were tried and executed. This memorial commemorates John Parker, Gavin Hamilton, James Hamilton and Christopher Strang, who were executed in Edinburgh in 1666. The inscription reads: 'At Hamilton/lie the heads of/JOHN PARKER, GAVIN HAMILTON/JAMES HAMILTON,/and/CHRISTOPHER STRANG;/who suffered at/EDINBURGH/Decr 7th 1666'. An epitaph reads: 'Stay, passenger take notice/what thou reads:/At Edinburgh lie our bodies,/here our heads;/our right hands stood at Lanark/these we want./Because with them we share/the Covenant./Renewed MDCCCXXVIII'. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/801111

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap