Strathendrick, and its inhabitants from early times

THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF FINTRY
13
On the 10th October 1689 he was deprived by the Privy Council, and
ceased to be the minister or curate, as the Presbyterians called the Episcopal
clergy of Fintry.
There had been more of the covenanting spirit in Fintry and the neighbour-
hood than in any other part of Strath endrick. The well-known James Ure of
Shargartan in Kippen was the leader of the Covenanters, and had great influence
in the district ; and the Rev. Mr. Archibald Riddell, the Presbyterian minister
of Kippen, who had refused to conform, held conventicles both there and
in Fintry parish. Ure was present at the battle of Bothwell Bridge, along with
several Kippen and Strathendrick people, but none of them seem to have been
taken prisoners or punished, though Ure himself was tried in 1682 and sentenced
to be executed. He escaped to Ireland, and succeeded in keeping himself safe
till the Revolution, and lived to be an old man, being alive at the rising of 1715.
Donald Connal in Bucklyvie was also a prominent Covenanter. We learn from
James Russel's narrative of the murder of Archbishop Sharp and the escape of
the murderers — himself being one of them — that when they arrived in Strathen-
drick they were joined by Connal, 1 who rode with them, along with one Robert
Rainie, apparently to aid their escape. He and his wife, Margaret Philip, were
afterwards taken prisoners at a field preaching, and were, like many other
unfortunates, shipped at Leith for " the plantations." Her friends managed to
bribe the captain of the vessel, and she was landed at Leith, and he was so
fortunate as to escape at London.
The most memorable conventicle in Strathendrick was that held in the
"Covenanters' Hole" on Fintry Craigs, on the 18th May 1679, fifteen days
after the murder of Archbishop Sharp on Magus Muir, for there were present
at it not only Ure, Connal, and other local Covenanters, but such men as
Robert Garnock, one of John Howie's "Scots Worthies," and James Russel,
Hackston of Rathillet, John Balfour of Burley, and others of the Archbishop's
murderers, who were flying from Fife to find shelter among the "honest folk"
of the West. These men had arrived in their flight on the Saturday evening at
a house on the borders of Kippen parish, and having heard that a great con-
venticle was to be held on Fintry Craigs by the Rev. Mr. Archibald Riddell on
the next day, resolved to attend it. They and a number of the congregation were
armed, and when sermon had just begun, a large party of horse and foot arrived
from Stirling, and attempted to disperse the meeting. There was a good deal
of firing, but no great harm done to either side, and the soldiers retired, having
captured only one herd lad who, for very shame, they shortly afterwards let go
free. The commander of these troops could not have known that Balfour and the
other murderers of the Archbishop were present, for they did not return, and
1 Russel calls him M 'Connal.