Author: Ian Devlin, Local Kirkcudbright Historian

Orders of the day, Volume 32, Issue 2, 2000

Grey Galloway was very much embroiled in the ‘killing times’ of the 17th Century. After the reformation of 1560 and the establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland, Charles I sought to stamp the authority of the English Church throughout Scotland by the installation of bishops and the issue of the English Prayer Book to Scotland. This was resisted by practically the whole body of people south of the Highland Line, with disturbances and tumult taking place throughout the country.

The celebrated Solemn League and Covenant was formed for the defence of the national religion, and on a momentous day for Scotland, 28th February 1638, the famous Instrument was signed. Galloway was very much the cradle of the Covenant as it had been of the Reformation, and the 2nd Lord Kirkcudbright, Thomas McLellan, was charged with the raising of a feudal army in the parishes of Dunrod, Galtway and Kirkcudbright to support the Solemn League and Covenant.

The Scots prepared for war and assembled at Dunse Law in 1639 - the men of Galloway with their lowland bonnets and a knot of blue ribbons above the left ear, the ‘Covenantor’s ribbon’, their rallying call “For Christ’s Crown and Covenant”. With this stern hint that the nation did not intend to allow their liberties to be tramped on, the King gave way and the men of Scotland, Galloway and Kirkcudbright returned to their homes. The following year however found the Scots army once again encamped at Dunse Law, but this time it was resolved to carry the war across the border - “The Blue Bonnets are Over the Border”.

On 20th August 1640 the Scottish Army crossed the border at Coldstream and on 28th August they met the King’s Army at Newburn. The English were defeated with the Gallovidians distinguishing themselves in the battle. The English retreated to Durham. After the fall of Newcastle the troops again returned home to a troubled peace.

On 23rd July 1644 a mounted infantry regiment was raised in the parishes of Kirkcudbright and embodied under the command of the 3rd Lord Kirkcudbright, Thomas McLellan of Glenchannoch - the former Lord Kirkcudbright having died in 1641 - and joined the Galloway and Scottish Army, a force of some 9,000 men, under the Earl Leven. The Scottish Army marched to Marston Moor where they joined forces with the English Parliamentary troops under Cromwell. A total of 50,000 Royalist and Parliamentary troops took to the field that fateful day. The Galloway men were once again to find honour on the battlefield when Lord Kirkcudbright’s Regiment ‘Dispersed and Overthrew the Royalist Cavalry opposed to them’. History records a Parliamentary victory that day. The Scots then marched on York and after its fall went north to the reduction of Newcastle.

Meanwhile the Marquis of Montrose, sympathetic to the Royalist cause, had taken military control of Scotland, and the Covenanters were defeated in a series of battles culminating in the battle of Kilsyth. Part of the Scottish army under Alexander Leslie, including Lord Kirkcudbright’s Regiment, was sent north to meet Montrose. This they did at Philliphaugh, close to Selkirk. It was said that the Lord Kirkcudbright always marched at the head of his Regiment with a barrel of brandy, and the following lines were attributed to him as he addressed his men as they moved to attack:

Montrose’s army was scattered and defeated with the victors abusing their victory by slaughtering in cold blood many of the prisoners taken in battle. One of the preachers in a sermon said “that Heaven demanded the blood of the prisoners taken at Philliphaugh.” The prisoners were executed as traitors by shooting them in the courtyard at Newark Castle and by throwing them to their deaths from the parapets of the Ettrick Bridge to the waters below.

The victory at Philliphaugh was met with great rejoicing and celebration throughout Scotland, with Lord Kirkcudbright and his Regiment being promised cash settlement of 1,500 merks from Parliament. This sum was never to be paid.

On the execution of Charles I, Charles II was proclaimed at Edinburgh in February 1649, thus putting the Scots at war with Cromwell and the English Parliament. Lord Kirkcudbright had died and command of his Regiment passed to his Colonel, James Agnew. During these unsettled times Ireland was divided into three distinct Protestant groups with the Catholics controlling the centre of the country. The allegiance of the Protestant groups was torn between Crown and Parliament. It was during these troubled times that the Galloway Regiment, again embodied, were called to service in Ireland, coming under the direct control of Lord Ardes and General Monro, with the Scottish/Irish forces.

In November 1649 these forces met with the Parliamentary Army under Cromwell at Lisnagarvey, when the Galloway Regiment was slaughtered to a man. The Kirkcudbright Regiment was drawn chiefly from the parishes of Dunrod, Galtway and Kirkcudbright and as a result of this disastrous defeat the very flower of Galloway manhood from Dunrod and Galtway was extinguished to such an extent that the villages, deprived of their menfolk, were wiped from the map with only the memories of their names and their graveyards remaining to tell of their sorry plight. This defeat was to signal the end of the Kirkcudbright and Galloway Regiments.

In December 1650 one of Cromwell’s Officers, a Captain Dawson, was to report on his raid on “Kilobright, which he put under requisition and destroyed all the arms of which he had not conveyance, taking at the same time 60 muskets and five locks, eight great barrels of powder, each containing nearly three ordinary barrels, match and ball proportionable and a great store of meal and beef.” He added that on the march he had taken 40 horses and some prisoners.

15th Century Kirkcudbright was a burgh of some significance with a population of some 500 souls, remembering that in the same period Glasgow numbered only 4,000 in population and Edinburgh, the capital, some 13,000. Kirkcudbright held a key position in the then important sea route between Scotland and France and was one of the leading burghs in Scotland. The 15th Century people of Kirkcudbright would be now very alien to us; their language would have been studded with dialect and expressions and Kirkcudbright was then the outpost of the English language in a countryside where Gaelic was still common. The High Street was much wider than it is today and the principal houses were wooden with alleyways and back stairs. The floors were strewn with rushes on which were left the remains of the meals, which would be cleaned by fowl or dogs. The centre of the street was one vast midden, in which wallowed the swine belonging to the townspeople. This midden was cleared once a year to make way for the stalls of the annual market and fair. The sewers were open ditches along the street, frequently choked.

In 1455, in recognition for their help in taking Threave Castle, James II granted a Royal Charter to Kirkcudbright, conferring their legal status of the Royal Burgh. “We invest the Burgh of Kirkcudbright with the right to buy and sell, the rights to have its own market day and yearly fair; we confirm it in possession of its lands and fishing right and grant it monopoly of milling all local corn and of retaining a percentage of the meal as a fee for milling and also the legal right to charge tolls and customs, to hold Courts of Law and collect fines in them with all other privileges and liberties.”

Kirkcudbright was now very much a closed market and extremely prosperous town. The old Council Records now show that the Burgh employed ‘rakers’, who, assisted by the swine, reduced the midden and kept the sewers and market place clear.

This was the town on which Thomas, the Earl of Derby, a landowner of some substance in the Isle of Man, cast his envious eye, and in 1507 he attacked Kirkcudbright and razed the town to the ground. So destructive was the raid that the houses remained uninhabited and ruinous for several years. Cultar McCulloch, the head of an ancient Galloway family, made numerous similar attacks on towns in the Isle of Man in revenge for the attack. In 1509, in recognition of these raids, James IV gave by royal charter the ruins of Kirkcudbright Castle and the lands of the Castledykes to the people of Kirkcudbright as their Common. The stone from the castle was later used in the building of the Tolbooth and McLellan’s town house.

In February 1547 Lord Wharton and the Earl of Lennox, who commanded the Scottish Borderers in the service of the King Edward VI, assembled their army with a view to invading Scotland. They expected to be joined by the Douglases as well as the Master of Maxwell, who deceived Lennox and switched allegiance. The English, determined to punish such treachery, attacked the Scots who were thrown into confusion and put to flight, with 600 of the Scots army being slain or drowned in a narrow ford in the River Nith. With the principal barons now prisoner, the town of Dumfries was to come under the King’s Grace and they summonsed the ancient Royal Burgh of Kirkcudbright to submit themselves to Edward’s authority. Sir Thomas Carleton, a member of the Borders clan of Armstrong, was despatched with a strong detachment of English horse either to compel obedience or burn the town to bring Kirkcudbright under the King’s Grace.

The inhabitants of the Royal Burgh had received timely notice of the proposed attack by Carleton and stood to their defence. We may imagine however with what feelings and trepidation the approach of the enemy was received. The town had already been summonsed to surrender and to their credit had refused to do so. Some no doubt would be for surrender, but some like Provost Towers of Edinburgh after Flodden would elect to fight to the bitter end. There would no doubt be tales told of the recent action at Annan and Dumfries when 600 of their fellow countrymen were met with such slaughter.

Carleton in his dispatch was to say, “And so we rode thither to the Town of Kirkobree at night and coming a little after sun rising, they seen us coming and barred their gates and kept their dikes, for the town is diked on both sides with a gate at the Water Ward (Moatwell) and a gate at the Cross End of Fell Ward (Meikleyett).” Advancing on foot the Englishmen made vigorous attacks, but were repelled and driven back by the strength and bravery of the citizens. The English Army could make no impression on its defences. An English arrow killed one man within the town walls and some of the besieged ladies became fearful for their husbands’ safety. Sir Thomas was to record, “One wife came to the ditch and called for one that would take her husband and save his life.” Anthon Armstrong was to continue the narration, “Fetch him to me and I’ll warrant his life”. The woman ran into the town and fetched her husband and brought him through the dike and delivered him to Anthon, who took him to England and later received a ransom for him.

McLellan, the Laird and Tutor of Bombie, made his appearance and with a party of friends and vassals attacked Carleton’s men from the landward side. A sharp encounter took place with several of McLellan’s men being killed and others taken prisoner. The prisoners were later released on ransom. Carleton was to later give his loss as one man killed. However, owing to the determined attitude of the defenders, Carleton was to withdraw to Dumfries, but on the march he seized 2,000 sheep, 200 cows and oxen, and 40 to 50 horses, mules and colts. The people of the west side of the Dee rose behind the English and proceeded to the Forehead Ford (Ford Farm, Bridge of Dee) to intercept Carleton.

The Galloway men were now in great strength and the English became alarmed to such an extent that they abandoned their sheep and gave charge of their ‘Nowte and Naggs’ to the men who rode the worst horses. Sir Thomas was a cool and wary soldier and sent 30 of his best men to meet the Galloway men should they attempt to cross the river. He himself with a strong party remained to guard the Standard, keeping themselves in readiness to aid their companions. The Galloway men did not however venture to cross the river.

When Elizabeth I was on the throne an English officer was sent to Kirkcudbright to spy on its defences, and between the years 1563 and 1566 he prepared a coloured sketch of Kirkcudbright and its defences. This is the oldest map or view of Kirkcudbright; the original coloured sketch and a report which accompanies the sketch are held in the British Museum. The report is entitled, “A Military Report on the West Marches Liddersdale” with reference to the possibility of the occupation of that part of Scotland by an English army.

1650 was to be the last attack on Kirkcudbright and from then on it would appear to have developed peacefully into the town that we all know and love today. Gone were the middens of the 15th century. A report on the Burgh 1689-1694, states:

“The Town was entered by the Meikleyett. Armed watchers were on duty at the gate. Kirkcudbright was possessed of one street the King’s Hie Passage, from which branched of Wynds and Closes. The Town was kept in a state of cleanliness, which was enforced vigorously.

The buildings of wooden construction were in rather a dilapidated state. Outside stairs were a common feature in their construction. Few buildings were constructed of stone, but at this time it was fashionable for gentry to take up residence in the Burghs hence the appearance of one or two stone buildings. There was little or no lighting. The Town was extremely class conscious, the gentry, self-explanatory, followed by the Freemen and Burgesses. To become a Freeman meant paying a considerable sum to the Town. A Freeman had to share in the ‘Watch and Ward’ duties. This was a duty jealously enforced by the Freemen. They also had to be ready to join their Sovereign at war. The next was the non-freeman or working class who were jealous of the Freemen, this leading to frequent Quarrels. The non-Freeman could not follow a trade or handicraft or merchandise and could not go into partnership with a Freeman nor be employed by him in any business at home or abroad.”

Altogether a very unhappy lot.

I trust that this will give you an interesting and enlightening background into Kirkcudbright and Galloway’s turbulent and warlike past and thereby add to your understanding, enjoyment and interest, should you participate in this modern-day invasion of Kirkcudbright and area.