This monument is up by Dreghorn Barracks, where I was walking today.
I drive past here all the time, so I decided to walk up today to have a close look at the monument.
When I got home I did some research and found out a bit about the monument.
It was erected in 1885 using pillars from William Adams Old Infirmary, the monument commemorates the Covenanters (1666)
Wikipedia says:
The Covenanters formed an important movement in the
religion and
politics of
Scotland in the 17th century. In religion the movement is most associated with the promotion and development of
Presbyterianism as a form of church government favoured by the people, as opposed to
Episcopacy, favoured by
the Crown. In politics the movement saw important developments in the character and operation of the
Scottish Parliament, which began a steady shift away from its medieval origins. The movement as a whole was essentially conservative in tone, but it began a revolution that engulfed Scotland,
England and
Ireland, the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
The name derives from biblical bonds or
covenants. The National Covenant of 1638 takes as its point of departure earlier documents of the same kind and is chiefly concerned with preserving the
Reformation settlement free from crown innovations. Its sister document, the 1643
Solemn League and Covenant, is also concerned with religion, but its chief importance is as a treaty of alliance between the Covenanters in Scotland and the
Parliament of England, anxious for help in the increasingly bitter
civil war with
Charles I. It however also highlighted the Covenanters own extreme lack of religious tolerance, something that was to lead to their eventual defeat at the
Battle of Dunbar by the very
Oliver Cromwell with whom they had been allied, and their gradual disbandment.
The monument also records other significant military incursions; namely the Romans, Cromwell in 1650 and Charles Edward Stuart in 1745.
It's nice to have all this history on your doorstep.
