The Unknown Covenanter in Chapman’s Cleuch near Sanquhar

In Traditions of the Covenanters (1846), the Reverend Robert Simpson, a minister at Sanquhar, claimed that an unnamed martyr of the Killing Times of 1685 was buried near the Crawick Water in his parish. This death is only recorded by Simpson’s tradition.

Near Chapman’s Cleuch © Chris Wimbush and licensed for reuse.

‘Near the head of Chapman Cleuch, in the neighbourhood of Nether Cog, lies a martyr; but neither his name nor the names of those by whom he was killed are known.’ (Simpson, Traditions, 135.)

Chapman’s Cleuch lies in the hills on the east side of the Crawick Water in Sanquhar parish, Dumfriesshire.

Map of Chapman’s Cleuch          Street View of Chapman’s Cleuch

Nether Cog © Chris Wimbush and licensed for reuse.

Simpson then made a inflated claim about the numbers shot in the fields as a justification for why the martyr’s name had not been recorded.

‘More than five hundred persons were shot by the military in the fields, and therefore it is not to be expected that the names of all these individuals, or the circumstances of their death, could be recorded by history, or retained by tradition. (Simpson, Traditions, 135.)

There are just over one hundred known or alleged summary executions recorded for the Killing Times.

Additional Text © Copyright Dr Mark Jardine. All Rights Reserved.

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~ by drmarkjardine on May 17, 2012.