Cumnock, Barrhill Road, Cemetery, Covenanters' Graves
Covenanters Grave(S) (17th Century), Obelisk (19th Century)
Site Name Cumnock, Barrhill Road, Cemetery, Covenanters' Graves
Classification Covenanters Grave(S) (17th Century), Obelisk (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Gallows Knowe; Martyr's Graves; Peden Monument
Canmore ID 43601
Site Number NS52SE 5.01
NGR NS 57034 20272
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/43601
- Council East Ayrshire
- Parish Old Cumnock
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Cumnock And Doon Valley
- Former County Ayrshire
NS52SE 5.01 57034 20272 Covenanter's Graves
(NS 5703 2027) Martyr's Grave (NAT)
OS 25" map (1969)
Four Covenanters are buried in a railed-off enclosure in Cumnock Old Graveyard, at Gallows Knowe. Thomas Richard, tenant of Greenock Mains, Muirkirk parish, was shot here on 5th April 1685. Adjacent to his grave is that of David Dun and Simon Paterson, shot here a month later. The third grave is that of Alexander Peden (arguably the most famous Covenanting minister, of Glenluce, who died naturally in 1686). It is marked by a memorial erected in 1891. Thomson was informed by the gravedigger that this was the fourth stone to Peden's memory, and when seen by him, the other stones lay by the side of the modern monument. One, referring to 'Alexander Peathine' was re-discovered in 1960; its inscription is quoted by Ayrshire Archaeol Natur Hist Collect (1960), while Warrick and Thomson give the inscriptions of the other stones.
J Warrick 1899; J H Thomson 1903; Cumnock Chronicle, 14 and 22 October 1960.
The Covenanters' tombstones lie within a small enclosure as described.
Visited by OS (JLD) 18 June 1954
No change.
Visited by OS (JRL) 23 October 1981.