Biggar 
Covenanter Museum


The
Covenanter Museum in Biggar is further down the road from
the main museum at the church. The old farm building is
impressive and must have been the property of a reasonably
well off farmer, given its size and very
solid brick construction. It has been sited under the lea
of a hill and alongside a small stream – typical of a
location in the seventeenth century that was sheltered and
with clean running water nearby. The farmhouse is almost
fortress like with bars across the

Jougs, collars for prisoners.
windows, and at one end set in the wall, is a set of
`jougs` – a metal collar on a short ( about 18 inches)
chain fixed into the brickwork, for  securing a
prisoner. Nearby is Robbie Burn`s famous saying of the
Covenant – on a bronze plate set in a boulder.

The Solemn League and
Covenant
Cost Scotland Blood, Cost Scotland  Tears
But it sealed Freedom`s sacred Cause
If thou`rt a Slave Indulge thy sneers

 Inside the
farmhouse the  rooms are furnished with period pieces
and tools,Laird in his office.
household utensils, and a rusty `Covenanters`  sword
is displayed. Upstairs there is a display of the owner in
period dress in his small office, while the main bedroom
contains period furniture including a four poster 
bed in which it is said Donald Cargill had slept just
before he
Four poster bed.
and Henry Hall were attacked at Queensferry – when Hall
was critically injured by a blow from a carbine butt and
subsequently died, and Cargill escaped.

Continuing
on the A702 towards Edinburgh the Pentland Hills come into
view and you will pass by the unmarked entrance to the
farm on which was fought the battle of Rullion Green on 28
November 1666. The entrance is a simple tarmacadam path by
a line of trees past Silverburn but before 
you reach the Flotterstone Visitor Centre in the Pentland
Hills Regional Park. If you intend visiting please
remember the memorial is on a working farm and you will
have to pass through a field probably with grazing sheep
in it – watch where you step!. Permission to visit the
memorial should be obtained from the farmhouse at the end
of the road. 

                                    
Next: Rullion Green