FortyTwa
Joined: 12 May 2009 Posts: 128 Location: United Kingdom
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Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2014 11:48 am Post subject: Covenanters' Memorial, Deerness |
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Situated on a commanding peninsula with steep cliffs to one side and rolling fields to the other, the 10 metre high Covenanter Memorial is around 300m from where a boat full of covenanters sank during a storm.
In 1679 the Battle of Bothwell Brig saw defeat of a Covenanter’s uprising and around 1200 prisoners were rounded up at Greyfriar’s Church in Eginburgh, 250 of whom were bundled on board The Crown of London awaiting transportation to the American colonies as slaves.
She set sail from Leith but ran into a storm while anchored in Deer Sound, causing the ship to be dashed onto the rocks.
The captain and crew escaped to safety but one compassionate crew member broke through into the hold with his axe, allowing 48 prisoners to free themselves.
The rest of the prisoners drowned as the ship sank and, over many days, bodies washed up on the beaches and were buried at Scarva Taing.
Built by public subscription, including a large donation of £50 from a surgeon, the monument was inaugurated on August 22, 1888.
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