Friends Of Loudoun Kirk

The Loudoun Parish Covenanters

James, 2nd Earl of Loudoun found favour with neither Cromwell nor Charles II after the king's Restoration. He was an exile in Holland until his death in 1684, while the parish minister John Nevay was also banished in 1662 and died abroad. Throughout the reign of Charles II and until James VII deserted the throne in 1688 the people of Newmilns and Loudoun parish were subjected to military repression. As fervent Covenanters they risked the imposition of fines for non-attendance at church, imprisonment, exile or death for refusal to accept the oath of allegiance; and summary execution if found armed and attending field conventicles. Yet, many still fought under the flag of the Covenant at the battles of Rullion Green, Drumclog and Bothwell Brig.

In the churchyard at Newmilns commemorative stones recall the names of the men of Loudoun parish killed between 1666 and 1685. Matthew Paton, shoemaker in Newmilns, was executed for being in arms at Rullion Green. David Findlay was shot on the order of General Tam Dalziel on suspicion of being with the Covenanting army. John Gebbie of Feoch, John Morton of Broomhill and Thomas Fleming of Loudoun Hill were killed at Drumclog or died later of their wounds. James Wood was executed for his appearance at Bothwell Brig, as also were John Nisbet of Glen and James Nisbet of Highside. John Law was shot by a guard when Newmilns Keep was attacked by local men and eight prisoners liberated. The old Keep was used as a prison and a billet for soldiers. It was also the headquarters of the notorious Captain Inglis whose ultimate act of barbarity was the execution and decapitation of James White in Fenwick. The Covenanter's head was carried back and put to gruesome use as a football by the soldiers on Newmilns town green. A gravestone in Fenwick tells the tale.

"This martyr was by Peter Inglis shot, By birth a Tyger rather than a Scot, Who that his monstrous Extract might be seen Cut off his head and kick't it O'er the Green. This was that head which Was to wear a Crown A football made by A profane Dragoon."

Newmilns Keep, now restored and used as a modern dwelling house.

The most illustrious Covenanter from Loudoun was John Nisbet of Hardhill who had served as a mercenary on the Continent. He had the post of captain at Bothwell Brig and was one of the last to leave the battle ground. Having also been at Rullion Green and Drumclog he was declared a rebel with 3,000 merks reward offered for his capture. Finally betrayed he was executed at the Grassmarket in Edinburgh in 1685. His farm of Hardhill lay in Loudoun manse glebe, the site of which is still marked by old foundations in a curve of the burn. It had been the home of his great grandfather Murdoch Nisbet first translator of the New Testament into Scots.

Personal Opinion
In My Opinion The Covenanters in Loudoun parish and indeed in Scotland in general were indeed brave souls, after all would you be prepared to die for your religious beliefs. I personally am not a religious man and even if I was I do not think I would put my life on the line just for the right to be able to worship where and when I wanted, Freedom is something else however as it states quite clearly in.Declaration of Arbroath that it is for freedom and that alone that any man would die. That is why this page is in memory of those brave Covenanters for they held true to their convictions, even to their death and I suspect there would not be many people in Scotland today who would do the same.

Thanks to Alloway Publishing and James Mair.