Tour Scotland short 4K early Autumn travel video clip of Grey Mare's Tail, a 200 foot high hanging valley waterfall, the 5th highest in the United Kingdom, near to Moffat on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit to Dumfries and Galloway. The fall is produced by the Tail Burn flowing from Loch Skeen cascading into the Moffat Water in the lower valley below. The footpath from the valley floor up to Loch Skeen is one of the more popular walks in the area. There is also historical evidence in this area of Iron Age settlers and the Covenanters who sought sanctuary here in the 17th century. Covenanters, Scottish Gaelic: Cùmhnantaich, were members of a 17th century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from Covenant, a biblical term for a bond or agreement with God. The origins of the movement lay in disputes with King James VI, and his son King Charles I over church structure and doctrine. In 1638, thousands of Scots signed the National Covenant, pledging to resist changes imposed by Charles on the kirk; following victory in the 1639 and 1640 Bishops' Wars, the Covenanters took control of Scotland and the 1643 Solemn League and Covenant brought them into the First English Civil War on the side of Parliament. Following his defeat in May 1646 King Charles I surrendered to the Scots Covenanters, rather than Parliament. By doing so, he hoped to exploit divisions between Presbyterians, and English Independents. As a result, the Scots supported Charles in the 1648 Second English Civil War. After his execution in 1649, the Covenanter government, in order to protect the Presbyterian polity and Calvinist doctrine of the Church of Scotland, signed the Treaty of Breda in 1650 restoring his son to the Scottish throne and supporting him against the English Parliamentary forces as Charles II . King Charles II was crowned King of Scots in Scone by Perth, Perthshire, in January 1651, but by then the terms agreed at Breda were already a dead letter. The army associated with the Kirk Party under David Leslie, 1st Lord Newark was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Dunbar in September 1650 and the English Parliamentarian New Model Army had taken Edinburgh and much of Lowland Scotland. The resulting annexation of Scotland by the Commonwealth of England abolished Scotland's legislative institutions. At his Restoration in 1660, the King reneged renouncing the terms of the Treaty and his Oath of Covenant, which the Scottish Covenanters saw as a betrayal. The resulting disappointment with Charles II's religious policy became civil unrest and erupted in violence during the early summer of 1679 with the assassination of Archbishop Sharp and the Battles of Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge. The Sanquhar Declaration of 1680 effectively declared the people could not accept the authority of a king who would not commit to his previous oaths, nor recognise their religion. In February 1685 the king died and was succeeded by his Roman Catholic brother, the Duke of York, as King James VII. After the 1660 Restoration, the Covenanters lost control of the kirk and became a persecuted minority, leading to several armed rebellions and a period from 1679 to 1688 known as "The Killing Time". Following the 1688 Glorious Revolution in Scotland, the Church of Scotland was re-established as a wholly Presbyterian structure and most Covenanters readmitted. This marked the end of their existence as a significant movement, although dissident minorities persisted in Scotland, Ireland, and North America, and exist today as the Reformed Presbyterian communion of churches. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day. Find things to see and do in Scotland where you are always welcome.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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