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| George Wishart the reformer came to Mauchline in 1544
or 45 with the intention of preaching to the congregation from the pulpit
of the parish church; but was refused admittance and ended up preaching
for three hours in the open air at the edge of Mauchline Moor, after which
a local tearaway known as "Wicked Laurence of Shell" was converted to the
faith.
On the border of Mauchline parish, at Auchincloigh, the
covenanting prophet Alexander Peden was born in 1626. Moved by the Devil and the Laird of Lee, Dragged these five men to death with gun and sword, Not suffering them to pray nor read God's word; Owning the word of God was all their crime, The Eighty-five was a saint-killing time." Tradition has it that these men, none of whom were local, were killed because they were caught reading Bibles. Further research may or may not have substantiated this, depending on how the evidence is viewed. One historian related that Peter Gillies of Muirenside and John Bryce of West Calder were arrested by a military force sent by Mr. Andrew Ure, the curate of Muirendside. The force searched Gillies' house, found some Bibles, and marched away Gillies and John Bryce, leaving behind Gillies wife and five children. It seems strange that Bryce, a weaver from West Calder was arrested, given that another historian testifies that he only came to get some cloth from Gillies (a bleacher to trade) which he had been dressing for him - it is pointed out that Gillies had a history of being a supporter of the covenanting movement - in 1674 a Presbyterian minister preached in Gillies' house, leading to Gillies being hounded from his home by the local curate and like minded folk; he then went to Stirlingshire, to Muiravonside or Muirendside where he escaped capture in 1682 by troops sent by another displeased curate, and where he lived until his final capture in April 1685. Two of the others, William Finneston or Fiddison and Thomas Young, came from Carluke, though nothing is known of the circumstances behind their arrest. It is also unknown where the other member of the quintet, John Bruning, came from, but local tradition has it that he was arrested for objecting to the treatment of the covenanter prisoners by the soldiers who, then angry, arrested him as well. It is a strange but unsolved mystery why people from as far a field as Lanarkshire and Stirlingshire should be marched to Mauchline for trial and execution, but tried and executed they undoubtedly were, and all here in Mauchline, in the county of Ayr.
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The famous battle of Mauchline Moor took place in 1648 between the Scottish
Royalists and the Covenanters. The Covenanters had allowed King Charles
I to fall into the hands of the English when he refused to impose the
"solemn league and covenant" and establish presbyterian church government
in England. But the right wing Royalist Covenanters thought better of
this move and deceided to send an army down to England to help the King
in return for his promise to establish the presbyterian church government
in England for an initial period of three years after which a final settlement
would be reached. This agreement, known as the "Engagement", was to be
confirmed in the English parliament while Charles and his English subjects
were not to be forced to sign it. To this the Scottish church could never
agree, even though it was passed by the Scottish parliament. This was
the direct cause of the conflict at Mauchline. On the 11th of July there
was a gathering of around 2000 people in Mauchline to celibrate Communion.
There were ministers from several neighbouring parishes in attendence,
and some historians attribute the following battle between the Covenanters
and the Royalists troops on the 12th of July to their infuence inflaming
the gathered worshipers to rebel against and levying of the troops to
serve in the Royalist army to be sent to England to ais Charles I to regain
his crown. However it must be remembered that a large percentage of the
crowed were those who had fled the levy in Lanarkshire in the hope that
they would be safe in Ayrshire, a fact that must have increased the hatred
of the engagement and the fear of the levies to serve in "an ungodly cause"
amongst the local Ayrshire inhabitants. They all gathered at Mauchline.
Such a numerous gathering of potential rebelscould not but alarm the royalist
forces - troops were sent to combat the threat. Initiallt they consisted
of six troops of cavalry under the commend of Major General Middleton
(60 men to a troop plus officers) but these were reinforced by a further
eight troops of calvary when the loyalists realised the actual number
of potential rebel they were facing.
The most visible evidence of Mauchline's covenanting history can be seen
at Mauchline Primary School - the monument to the five covenanters hanged
in Mauchline on 6th May 1685. Tradition has it that these men were hanged
outside what is now the Dentists' at the Cross and then 'officially' at
the Loan Green, a curse remaining on the house at the Cross to this day.
However another version is given in the Ardrossan and Salcoats Herald
(19 June 1858) which says the building was then an inn where General Drummond
'put up' and held the mock trial of the five men, and being unable to
obtain ropes for the execution from the local shopkeepers or the townspeople,
persuaded his host, Mr. Fisher, to provide them. Regardless of the run
up to it, they were hanged at the Loan Green, and their burial place was
a hole dug at the foot of the gallows, and it was there that they were
thrown after the hanging. Their resting place was at first marked by a
tombstone but it was replaced by a monument erected by public subscription
in 1830, a copy of which was built into the school wall. It bears the
inscription -