Lanark Covenanters' Monument

St Kentigern's Churchyard

Lanark

Lanarkshire

NGR - NS 889432

This monument was erected in memory of all of the Lanark-associated Covenanters. It lists those who were martyred, those who were tortured and banished, and also those who were fined. The immediate surroundings of the memorial were updated in 2017.

The monument was erected in April 1881. The foundation stone was laid by Provost Lamb. The prayer was given by Rev Donald Mackintosh MA, Free Church,  after which a sealed jar was placed in the ground by the Provost. This contained  various coins, newspapers and other documents. Rev Thomas Little BD of the  Established Church then addressed those attending.

The monument was subsequently erected on site. It measures thirty feet in height and is constructed from a freestone from Fairloans Quarry, Liddesdale, near to Hawick.

After the monument had been erected, the Martyr Monument Committee continued to meet, and were still holding social gatherings a few years later.

In November 1881 the monument suffered in a storm which caused considerable damage in the district. The obelisk was toppled, and the uppermost part of it was broken. The repair is still visible to this day.

The monument is quite different to many other Covenanter memorials in that it lists all of the Covenanters in the parish who suffered for the cause—it lists those fined, banished, outlawed, as well as those who were executed or shot in the fields.

This

MONUMENT

has been

erected by public subscription

to the memory of the after named

persons in the town and parish

of Lanark who suffered for their

adherence to the Covenanter,

during the 17th century.

EXECUTED:

Robert Baillie of Jerviswood

WIlliam Hervey, Thomas Lachlan

John Wilson

PERSONS WHO FORFEITED THEIR LANDS

AND OTHER POSSESSIONS

BUT WHOSE LIVES WERE SPARED

WIlliam Tweedale, Bailie of Lanark,

Hugh Weir, Merchant, Lanark.

'The Righteous shall be in everlasting

remembrance.' Psalm CXII V.6.

Lanark Covenanters' Monument

Following the Pentland Rising at St John's Town of Dalry in Galloway on 13 November 1666, the Covenanters decided to march to Edinburgh. They arrived in Lanark on Sunday 25 November, around one thousand in number. On Monday 26 November the Covenanters filled the town centre. The Solemn League and Covenant was renewed. This was the first time this had occurred since it was drawn up in the 1640s. Rev John Guthrie, who had been evicted from Tarbolton Church in Ayrshire, stood on the Tolbooth steps and addressed the infantry. At the Townhead Rev Gabriel Semple preached to the horsemen. Those assembled raised their hands and swore their allegiance. The Covenanters then marched towards Edinburgh, where they were defeated in battle at Rullion Green, on 29 November 1666.
On 12 January 1682 the Covenanters marched into Lanark where they published the Lanark Declaration. The leader was Rev James Renwick, and he and sixty men read the declaration from the Cross, which they had defaced with hammers. The Declaration was entitled 'The Act and Apologetic Declaration of the true Presbyterians of the Church of Scotland'. In it they adhered to the declarations of Rutherglen and Sanquhar and 'repudiated the unconstitutional acts of Charles II.
The magistrates of the council were fined 6,000 merks for their slackness in apprehending the 'desperate villains'.