Rev Thomas Hog's Memorial

Kiltearn Church

Kiltearn

Ross & Cromarty

NGR - NH 617652

The original memorial is a large slab, inscribed TH. In 1940 an adjoining memorial was added alongside, bearing the inscription:

Revd. Thomas Hog.

1628-1692

The original inscription on the tombstone below is as follows:

'This stone shall bear witness against the parishioners of Kiltearn if they bring ane ungodly minister in here'.

1940

Image above: Becky Williamson

Rev Thomas Hog of Kiltearn

Thomas Hog was born in Tain in 1628, 'of honest parents, native Highlanders, somewhat above the vulgar rank'. He became minister of Kiltearn. Rev Thomas Hog was outed as a minister in 1661. He moved to near Auldearn, where he is known to have held conventicles, for which he was imprisoned in Forres Tolbooth for a time. He was caught again, imprisoned in Edinburgh Tolbooth and then sent to the prison on the Bass Rock for a time, where he was held in the worst dungeon, on the advice of Archbishop Sharp. He was banished to Kintyre, re-arrested, and then banished out of Scotland, settling for a time in London then Holland. He was influential in persuading William III to abolish episcopacy in 1689. At the Glorious Revolution, he was able to return to minister at Kiltearn. He died on 4 January 1692 and was buried at Kiltearn, where an inscription reads 'This stone shall bear witness against the parishioners of Kiltearn if they bring an ungodly minister in here.’ At his own request, he was buried under the threshhold of the church.