Covenanters' Well

Bluecairn

Galashiels

Roxburghshire

NGR - NT 535418

The Covenanters' Well is located in a hollow to the immediate south-east of Bluecairn farm. The well no longer contains water, but is marked by a pile of stones in the narrow glen.

Blue Cairn Covenanters' Well

Rev WIlliam Veitch was a graduate of Glasgow University and found employment as a tutor to the Greenhead family. Originally he planned to be a doctor but the ministrations of Rev John Livingstone so affected him that he trained to be a minister. He married Marion Fairlie in 1664. He was active at Rullion Green in 1666 but escaped. In 1676 the Duke of Lauderdale had an act passed which meant that heritors would be severely fined if conventicles were held on their land. This was a spur to Veitch and others, and he determined to hold one on Lauderdale's Thirlestane estate! The site at Bluecairn was selected and Veitch preached there in 1676. It is said that around 4,000 people came to hear him. The site was used for conventicles in subsequent years.