The Trumpeter's Well at Caldermill in South Lanarkshire is recorded as the site of the death of a government trumpeter or cornet who was killed in the aftermath of the 1679 Battle of Drumclog at which the Covenanters were victorious.
The Category C Listed Trumpeter's Well is located in the hamlet of Caldermill (NS 66013 41683) in a field beside the entrance drive to Hillhead Farm, on the A71 route to Strathaven from Darvel, Parish of Avondale, South Lanarkshire. [1] The site lies about 3 miles away from the site of the Battle of Drumclog.
In 1858 the Trumpeter's Well had been infilled, but was traditionally associated with the death of a trumpeter whose burial site was still pointed out. The well head is stone lined and protected by a professionally built 9' high circular stone rubble building with a concical slated roof and a wooden door with an ashlar surround, [2] once again in use in 1966, the water from it supplying nearby Hillhead Farm. [3] The building probably dates from the early 19th century. [2]
In 1851 - 1861 the spot where he was buried was still known locally, but there was no appearance of a grave. [4] Lidar images do however show depressions in the field lying close to the well house. [5]
During the covenanting period there was a battle in 1679 near the village of Drumclog following an illegal religious meeting known as a Conventicle that was held in this isolated moorland site. Graham of Claverhouse, later Viscount Dundee, was the leader of the government troops and during the Battle of Drumclog, Thomas Finlay, a farmer who had attended the meeting, stabbed Claverhouse's horse with his pike, severely injuring it. [6] 'Bloody Clavers' as the Covenanter's called him, was able to force his mount on until he encountered his trumpeter and took this boy's horse from him to secure his own escape. [1] This trumpeter is said to have been a boy of around 14 years of age who was subsequently caught at Caldermill, killed by the covenanters and his body was thrown into the well that lay close to the road. Subsequently it seems to have been removed and buried nearby. [4]
Some reports indicate that other government dragoons attempting to escape the battle ground, were also killed nearby and buried here, possibly in a mass grave. [1] [3] [7]
The OS Name Book gives a twist on the story stating that in 1851 - 1861 tradition stated that the Trumpeter was killed here while his horse was drinking at the well. [4] At the time of the OS visit Hillhead Farm was owned and occupied by Joseph Allison. [4]
A further element of confusion is that the cornet to Claverhouse was in common parlance a 'trumpeter' and is said to have been killed in the battle:
"The Rebels upon Captain Graham's Approach, sent out Two Parties to skirmish with him, which he beat into their main Body. Then they advanced with their whole Force upon him, who after a considerable Slaughter of the Rebels, and the Loss of his Cornet, Two Brigadiers, about Eight Horse, and Twenty Dragoons, (his own Horse being killed under him, and mounting another)...." [8]
Scotlands Places records details given by Sheriff Aiton of a skirmish at a dwelling, now demolished, known as Capernaum near Drumclog Bridge:
"The Covenanters pursued the Troops to Calder Water about 3 miles from the field of Action. A person of the name Findlay from Lesmahagow armed with a pitchfork came up with Captain Graham at a place called "Capernaum" near Coldwakening and would probably have killed that officer had not another of the Covenanters called to Findlay to strike at the Horse and thereby secure both it and the rider. The blow intended for the Captain was spent upon his mare and the Captain escaped by mounting with great agility the horse of his trumpeter who was killed by the Whigs" [9]
South Lanarkshire is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, the Scottish Borders and West Lothian. It includes most of the historic county of Lanarkshire.
John Graham, 7th of Claverhouse, 1st Viscount Dundee was a Scottish soldier and nobleman, a Tory and an Episcopalian. He was responsible for policing southwest Scotland during and after the religious unrest and rebellion of the late 17th century, and went on to lead the Jacobite rising of 1689.
Old Mortality is one of the Waverley novels by Walter Scott. Set in south west Scotland, it forms, along with The Black Dwarf, the 1st series of his Tales of My Landlord (1816). The novel deals with the period of the Covenanters, featuring their victory at Loudoun Hill and their defeat at Bothwell Bridge, both in June 1679; a final section is set in 1689 at the time of the royalist defeat at Killiecrankie.
The Killing Time was a period of conflict in Scottish history between the Presbyterian Covenanter movement, based largely in the southwest of the country, and the government forces of Kings Charles II and James VII. The period, roughly from 1679 to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, was subsequently called The Killing Time by Robert Wodrow in his The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution, published in 1721–22. It is an important episode in the martyrology of the Church of Scotland.
The Battle of Drumclog was fought on 1 June 1679, between a group of Covenanters and the forces of John Graham of Claverhouse, at Drumclog, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Loudoun Hill is a volcanic plug in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located near the head of the River Irvine, east of Darvel.
Stonehouse is a rural village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on Avon Water in an area of natural beauty and historical interest, near to the Clyde Valley. It is on the A71 trunk road between Edinburgh and Kilmarnock, near the towns of Hamilton, Larkhall and Strathaven. The population of Stonehouse is around 7,500.
Tillietudlem is a fictional castle in Walter Scott's 1816 novel Old Mortality, and a modern settlement in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.
John Brown (1627–1685), also known as the Christian Carrier, was a Protestant Covenanter from Priesthill farm, a few miles from Muirkirk in Ayrshire, Scotland. He became a Presbyterian martyr in 1685.
Caldermill is a small settlement in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.
The Battle of Bothwell Bridge, or Bothwell Brig' took place on 22 June 1679. It was fought between government troops and militant Presbyterian Covenanters, and signalled the end of their brief rebellion. The battle took place at the bridge over the River Clyde between Hamilton and Bothwell in Lanarkshire, Scotland. The battlefield has been included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and protected by Historic Scotland under the Historic Environment (Amendment) Act 2011.
George Ross, 11th Lord Ross of Halkhead, was a Scottish nobleman and soldier.
William Aiton was a Scottish law agent, agriculturalist and sheriff-substitute of the county of Lanark. He was an authority on all matters bearing on Scottish husbandry.
The Regiment of Horse was a cavalry unit active in Scotland in the late seventeenth century, which played an important role in the events of that period.
Robert Hamilton (1650–1701), second baronet of Preston, was one of the leaders of the Scottish Covenanters. He was the son of Sir Thomas Hamilton, and brother of Sir William, first baronet of Preston. Hamilton was educated at Glasgow University under Professor Burnet. He attached himself to the cause of the Covenanters, and appears in command at Drumclog and Bothwell Brig. After the defeat he retired to Holland, where he remained with his brother-in-law, Gordon of Earlston, until the Revolution of 1688. He declined to recognise title of Prince of Orange, on the ground that he was not a Covenanted sovereign. He was arrested in Edinburgh for being concerned in the second Sanquhar Declaration of August, 1692, issued by the "United Societies". On liberation, he left his testimony afresh against backsliding in Church and State, and becomes as far as one person could be the main stay of "the afflicted Remnant." He died, unmarried, aged 51.
Drumclog is a small village in South Lanarkshire, Parish of Avendale and Drumclog, Scotland. The habitation is situated on the A71, between Caldermill and Priestland in East Ayrshire at a height of 196.7m and about 5 miles west of Strathaven.
Henry Hall was a Covenanter and Church of Scotland elder. He had firm Presbyterian convictions. He tried but was prevented from joining the Pentland Rising. He fought as an officer at Drumclog and at Bothwell Bridge. He was part of a group, along with Richard Cameron and Donald Cargill, who were openly opposed to the government's religious policies. Hall was intercepted at South Queensferry where Robert Middleton, the governor of Blackness Castle, tried to arrest him along with Donald Cargill. Hall managed to hold off the governor but received a mortal headwound from the butt of a gun from a taxman after Cargill had escaped. An unsigned and probably unfinished work known as The Queensferry Paper was found on Hall which caused considerable disquiet when it was read by government supporters.
John King was an outlawed minister of the Covenant, chaplain at one time to Lord Cardross, but seized by Claverhouse among the insurgents after the affair at Drumclog. King was taken to Edinburgh along with another preacher named John Kid. They were each subjected to torture, condemned to death, and executed. Following his death King's head and limbs were displayed at the Netherbow Port on Edinburgh's Royal Mile beside James Guthrie's skull.
John Kid was an outlawed minister of the Covenant. He was seized by Claverhouse among the insurgents after the affair at Drumclog. He was released by the insurgents but recaptured in a bog a few miles from Bothwell Bridge with a sword in his belt. Kid was taken to Edinburgh along with another preacher named John King. They were each subjected to torture, by the boots, condemned to death, and executed. Following his death Kid's head and limbs were displayed at the Netherbow Port on Edinburgh's Royal Mile beside James Guthrie's skull.
Events from the year 1679 in the Kingdom of Scotland.
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