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Martyrs' Tomb

James VI and his son Charles II tried to force upon Scotland an Episcopal Church system, similar to the Anglican one, in place of the Presbyterian system that the Scots had established in 1558 after the Reformation. In 1638 the Scots set up a National Covenant of Protest (hence the word 'Covenanter'). Presbyterian ministers who refused to obey the King were removed from their churches and began to preach to Covenanters in open-air services. Attendance at these 'conventicles' was made an offence punishable by death.

In 1665, John Murchie and Daniel Mieklewrick were pursued by soldiers, found to be carrying bibles (therefore assumed to be Covenanters) and shot on the spot. Their bodies were left where they lay, but local women found and buried them close to the Cross Water and this monument beside the burn was later erected in their memory. It is just one of the many Covenanter monuments and memorials scattered around Scotland.