Covenanters’ Graves








Robert Buntine & James Blackwood: Memorial Stone next to south gate.
Buntine took part in the Battle of Rullion Green, near Edinburgh & was executed with eight others on 19th December 1666 at Glasgow Cross.
It was at this execution that the Duke of Alva introduced the practice of beating the drums to drown out the last words of the executed.
Read the verse on the tombstone:
Their testimonies foes to bury
Caus’d beat the drums in great fury:
They’ll know at resureecton day,
To murder saints was no sweet play.
Blackwood too fought at Rullion Green & was executed on the last day of 1666, twelve days after Buntine at Irvine.  

Midland Martyrs
About half a mile from the Kirk on the road to Waterside stands Midland Farm.  In the killing year of 1685 one Saturday night four men held a prayer meeting there. They had word that a party of 40 soldiers were on their track and made off early on Sunday morning but one of them, Fergushill became ill and the others refused to leave him, hiding instead in the byre amongst the cows. The soldiers were unable to find them but returned when informed by two men “You are good seekers but poor finders”.  The dragoons eventually found them and three, GeorgeWoodburn from the Mains of Loudoun, John Fergushill from Tarbolton and Peter Gemmell of Fenwick were shot, the fourth John Nisbet taken to trial in Edinburgh and executed in the Grassmarket.
Woodburn & Fergushill lie together in the Kirkyard their tombstone inscribed:
Here Lies
The dust of John Fergushill
And George Woodburn who
were shot at Midland by
Nisbet and his party 1685
There have been Gemmells living in and around Fenwick since 1100 or 1200.   Young Peter Gemmell from Horsehill Farm was just 21 years old when shot.  He lies just beside the bell tower.   

Rev William Guthrie:first minister of Fenwick Parish Church from 1643 to 1664 when he was ejected from his pulpit by the king’s curate, author of “The Christian’s Great Interest” and inspiration of all the Covenanters.  His monument is inscribed:
His active and self denied ministry, through the divine blessing, produced a deep and lasting impression.  







James White: James White along with 11 others had met for a Conventicle at nearby Little Blackwood Farm which was raided by a party of Redcoats under Peter Inglis.  White resisted arrest and was shot on the spot, his body was taken to Newmilns where the remainder of his companions were imprisoned and where White’s head was cut off and used as a football by the soldiers. If you find the grave of James White try to read the verse on the back of the gravestone:
This Martyr was By Peter Inglis Shot                        
By birth a Tyger rather than a Scot                        
Who that his monstrous Extract might be Seen                
Cut off his head and kickd it o’er the Green                    
Thus was that head which was to wear a Crown                
A football made by a profane Dragoun.    

Howies of Lochgoin:    Lochgoin , that lonely farm on the Eaglesham Moor was often a refuge to fleeing Covenanters and that family saved many a life.  Nowadays there is a museum and monument at the farm where the Covenanters once walked.

Captain John Paton: most famous of the Fenwick Martyrs was born and grew up at Meadowhead Farm and as a young man was a soldier before returning to farm and become an elder of Fenwick Kirk and Covenanter.  He was eventually captured and executed in the Grassmarket on May 9 1684.  His bible handed down from the scaffold to his wife can be seen in the Kirk next to the east window whence you can see a large monument in his memory.