9/1/2011

2011 T-Shirts Available

A slightly different design has been incorporated into the latest shipment of MacLachlan and MacEwan T-shirts.  These shirts have been especially designed for Clan MacLachlan and are available nowhere else.

The shirts come in a variety of sizes to fit most men, women and children.  The MacLachlan shirts are available in Navy blue and red (children’s shirt come in red only), while the MacEwan shirts are Forest green.

Shirts are priced at $20.00 for adult sizes and $15.00 for children’s shirts. 

Shirts are available at the MacLachlan Clan tents at the Highland Games or you can order them directly from: Kaye Gilchrist, 11895 W. Stillwater Drive, Boise ID 83713.   Add $5.00 per shirt for postage and handling.  Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.  Inquires as to sizes and availability can be made to: rickayg@msn.com

Bagpipe, Kilt and Caber 2012 -01 (Wigtown Martyrs)

W. C. Fields was a comedian and actor who gained fame during the 1920s and '30s as a performer in
vaudeville, on stage, and in both silent and talking films. His signature character in all these media was
a hard-drinking, hard-hearted, yet sympathetic person. One quote attributed to him is, A mans got to
believe in something. I believe Ill have another drink.
Not everyone takes such a light-hearted view of their beliefs. In fact, thousands, possibly hundreds of
thousands of people have given their lives for their beliefs. Heres a story about two such women.

The setting: The Protestant Reformation began sweeping Europe in the early to mid-1500s. In 1534, the
English opted for an Anglican Church headed by King Henry VIII. The Scots opted for locally controlled
churches (Presbyterianism). The crowns of England and Scotland were united when James VI of Scotland
also became James I of England in 1567. The peoples of the two countries remained resolute in their
worship practices. The situation reached a crescendo by the 1680s, a period in Scotlands bloody history
known as The Killing Times.

The players: King Charles II of England and the Scottish Covenanters, specifically Margaret MacLachlan
(spelled a number of ways in the records) and Margaret Wilson. The Covenanters were people who
endorsed a number of Covenants or statements that basically declared that Presbyterianism was the
official religion of Scotland.

The plot: The English Civil Wars of 1642-51 saw the execution of King Charles I and the establishment
of a Commonwealth that lasted for several years. Charles II regained his fathers throne in 1661. Like his
father, he believed in the divine right of kings, meaning that the king is omnipotent and should control
all facets of his subjects lives. As king, Charles was the head of the Anglican Church of England and
resented the Presbyterian idea that the individual churches should choose their own pastors and leaders.
Shortly after assuming the throne, he decided to change the religious direction of Scotland. Without the
proper nicety of going through Parliament, he simply declared that the Church of Scotland was an
Episcopal church.

Pastors were told to either accept this new order or lose their positions. Nearly a third of the pastors left
their churches but many continued to preach in homes, barns and open air locations. These illegal
gatherings were known as conventicles and the thousands of worshipers who attended these services
and supported the now-superseded Covenants were known as Covenanters. The government-appointed
ministers who replaced the congregation-chosen pastors were generally disliked and in many cases
uneducated and ill-prepared.

Over the ensuing years, Charles escalated his campaign to convert these rebellious Scots by imposing
fines on those who did not attend the churches approved by the government. He instituted the death
penalty for those who preached at the conventicles and used torture to extract confessions. Raiders from
other parts of the country were invited to plunder those "hotbeds" of Covenanters in an attempt to flush
them out so government troops could deal with them.

Predictably armed clashes occurred throughout the southwest of Scotland. Parliament passed the Test
Act in 1681 which required everyone in public office, including ministers, to swear allegiance to the
king. It wasnt long until this became mandatory for everyone. Within a couple of years this oath included


renouncing the Covenants and it became a capital offense to refuse the oath. Prisons and dungeons
overflowed with Covenanters. Some were executed; others were transported to the colonies as bonded
servants where they faced a life of near slavery. Many died from the deplorable conditions in the prisons
and even more died on the packed prison ships that carried them across the Atlantic.

Executions usually were done by hanging but one especially heinous event involved two women in
Wigtown, a small village in Galloway on the north side of the Solway Firth, about 100 miles southwest of
Glasgow. The village name has a Norse origin and means town on the bay.

In 1685, 63-year-old Margaret MacLachlan and 18-year-old Margaret Wilson were thrown in prison for
not taking the Oath. Wilsons parents had both succumbed and taken the oath, but their daughter refused
and fled, finally seeking shelter with the older MacLachlan woman, who had previously been in trouble.
When troops arrived, the women were asked to drink to the kings health and they refused. The two were
arrested on charges of attending conventicles. They went to court where they were given the opportunity
to take the oath. They refused and were found guilty. In accordance with a law passed a few months
before, they were sentenced to death by drowning.

A month later, the two Margarets were taken to the beach at low tide and tied to stakes. A crowd gathered
hoping that the women would reconsider and take the oath. They didnt. MacLachlans stake was placed
further out than the younger Wilsons so the incoming tide would reach her first. It was thought that when
Wilson saw the older woman drown, she would relent and take the oath.

As the water rose up to MacLachlans mouth, she was given a last chance to recant and again she refused,
whereupon a town official held her head under the water until she was dead. Having witnessed this,
officials were certain that the younger woman would swear the oath. Instead she began singing the 25th
Psalm which begins with these words, Unto thee O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee:
let me not be ashamed. Let not mine enemies triumph over me. She was again asked to take the oath and
again she refused. The crowd asked that she simply say, God save the King but she again refused. Her
last words were, I am one of Christs children. Let me go. With that, the waters of Wigtown Bay
claimed their second victim.

Margaret Wilson as perceived by John
Everett Millais in 1862.


Until next time, may your kilt keep its pleats and your sporran stay full!! RG

7/22/2010
Check out this new Web site for the "Old Castle Lachlan"

www.oldcastlelachlan.com