Old Photograph Of Ballantrae Scotland

An old photograph of houses, cottages and people in Ballantrae, Ayrshire, Scotland. The Reverend Alexander Peden, born 1626, died 26 January 1686, also known as " Prophet Peden ", was one of the leading figures in the Covenanter movement in Scotland. In June 1673, while holding a conventicle at Knockdow near Ballantrae, Ayrshire, he was captured by Major William Cockburn, and condemned by the Privy Council to four years and three months imprisonment on the Bass Rock and a further fifteen months in the Edinburgh Tolbooth. In December 1678 he, along with 60 others, was sentenced to banishment to the American plantations. They were transported by ship to London, where they were to be transferred to an American ship. The American captain, however, on hearing the reason for their banishment, released them. Peden made his way north again and divided the remaining years of his life between his own country and the north of Ireland. His last days were spent in a cave on the River Lugar in the parish of Sorn, near his birthplace and his brother's farm in Auchinleck, and there he died in 1686, worn out by hardship and privation.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.