Renwick in Renfrewshire

Craig Minnan © wfmillar and licensed for reuse.

In the latter half of 1687 James Renwick took his field preaching campaign against James VII’s edicts of toleration beyond the United Societies’ strongholds. One of the places that he probably preached at during this campaign was at the Covenanters’ Hollow to the east of Craig Minnan on Duchal Muir in Kilmacolm parish, Renfrewshire.

The exact location of Renwick’s preaching is described by the editor of the later edition of Wodrow’s History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland as ‘on a beautiful green hill, a little way nearer the Lady-muir than Craigminnan. On the spot there is a great circle, or a big ring [aka., the Covenanters’ Hollow], as the neighbours used to call it, raised of earth and some stones mixed with it. The sentinels watched on the neighbouring hill, Craigminnan.’ (Shields, LoR, 154; Wodrow, History, IV, 448.)

According to The Borderlands of Glasgow, a guide book for walkers using the tram terminals in the 1920s, the site is known as the Covenanters’ Hollow or the ‘Big Ring’ and lies just below and to the east of the escarpment of Craig Minnan towards Ladymuir farm.

Map of Craig Minnan/Covenanters’ Hollow

From the indictment against Renwick in February 1688, we know that he probably preached to an armed conventicle there in September 1687.

Craig Minnan, also known as Covenanters’ Hill, lies in Muirshiel Country Park. An impressive landscape photograph that gives a real sense of the setting of the site can be found here.

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~ by drmarkjardine on September 2, 2010.