The Wigtown Martyrs or Solway Martyrs, Margaret Maclauchlan and

Margaret Wilson Margaret Anne Wilson (born 20 May 1947) is a New Zealand lawyer, academic and former Labour Party politician. She served as Attorney-General from 1999 to 2005 and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2005 to 2008, during the Fifth L ...

, were

Scottish Covenanters Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...

who were executed by Scottish

Episcopalians Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

on 11 May, 1685 in

Wigtown, Scotland Wigtown ( (both used locally); gd, Baile na h-Ùige) is a town and former royal burgh in Wigtownshire, of which it is the county town, within the Dumfries and Galloway region in Scotland. It lies east of Stranraer and south of Newton Stewart. I ...

, by tying them to stakes on the town's mudflats and allowing them to drown with the rising tide. Monuments to the 'Wigtown Martyrs' exist in Wigtown. During " The Killing Times" of the

Covenanters Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...

in the 17th century, Margaret McLachlan, an elderly woman of around 63, and

, around 18 years of age, were sentenced to be tied to stakes in the tidal channel of the River Bladnoch near its entrance to

Wigtown Bay Wigtown Bay is a large inlet of the Irish Sea on the coast of Galloway in southwest Scotland. Its coastline falls entirely within the modern administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway and shared between the historical counties of Wigtownshire an ...

to be

drowned Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others present are either unaware of the victim's situation or unable to offer as ...

by the incoming tide. The ploy was that the younger woman might be persuaded to change her mind after watching the older woman drown. The strategy failed and both died. This execution was carried out by dragoons under the command of Major Windram in the presence of Sir Robert Grierson of Lag who held the King's Commission to suppress the rebels in the South West. Their story, as told in various sources, tells how the women were betrayed by an informer. After about a month in prison they were tried as rebels and sentenced to death by drowning. The story of the Wigtown Martyrs was among those collected by

Robert Wodrow Robert Wodrow (167921 March 1734) was a Scottish minister and historian, known as a chronicler and defender of the Covenanters. Robert Wodrow was born at Glasgow, where his father, James Wodrow, was a professor of divinity. Robert was educate ...

and published in his ''History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution''. The

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...

had decided in 1708 to collect accounts of persecution under the Stuart monarchs, and persuaded Wodrow to take on the research. He wrote that Thomas Wilson "lives now in his father's room, and is ready to attest all I am writing." There are two graves to the women in the local churchyard and on nearby Windy Hill there is a memorial obelisk. There is also a stone at the point where they died.

References

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External links

Video and narration of Cruel Lagg and the Wigtown Martyrsengraving
Persecution of the Covenanters 17th-century Protestant martyrs People executed for heresy People executed by drowning People executed by Scotland Protestant martyrs of Scotland