Two Covenanters face Cumnock Firing Squad

Douglas Skelton Douglas Skelton - 1614 • Last updated 10 Apr 2008 10:56 0 Comments

June 1685

TWO men have been shot in Cumnock for attending a proscribed religious meeting while news emerges of further killing in the hills.

The men - David Dun and Simon Paterson - had been among those arrested during the raid by Government forces on a conventicle near Carsphairn.

As reported in the last edition of 'The Killing Times", Colonel James Douglas"s force of Highlanders had swooped on Covenanters after they heard preacher James Renwick.

Reports suggest that three men were summarily executed in the hills above Dalmellington. Sources close to the Covenanting movement claim that the men refused to swear the Oath of Allegiance to their King. That and their confession of having attended the field service allowed Colonel Douglas to have them shot where they stood. The men have been named as John Jamieson, Joseph Wilson and John Humphrey.

A fourth, Alexander Jamieson, has been locked in the Cumnock tolbooth.

David Dun and Simon Paterson were taken together. It is believed that Dun tried to escape but was prevented from flight when his horse sank into soft mud.

Dun is believed to be a farmer from Ochiltree Parish, while Paterson may hail from Dalmellington. They had both taken to the moors and mosses of the area in defence of their Presbyterian beliefs.

The men were hauled to Cumnock and kept prisoner there for a time. 'The Killing Times" believes that Dun"s sister was informed of his arrest and made her way from her home to Cumnock to see him. However, by the time she arrived, both he and his co-accused had been shot. Reports suggest that she, too , was executed for her beliefs.

In the last edition of 'The Killing Times", we reported that another man may have witnessed the events on Carsgailoch Hill. He is Hugh Hutchison of Dalgig and he managed to elude the pursing soldiers.

Covenanter sources tell us that he and others sympathetic to the cause have buried the three men left to rot on the hill.

He also reportedly made a visit to Alexander Jamieson in the Cumnock jail. However, he had to flee when recognised by a soldier. He once again avoided arrest and was last seen in the company of Covenanter John Paterson in the Dalmellington area.

During this mission, the soldiers raised the body count when they gunned down two farmers near New Cumnock who were caught reading their Bibles.

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This article appeared in Cumnock Chronicle 12 Mar 08

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