Martyrs' Stake

A stone pillar in Wigtown Bay, a quarter-mile (0.4 km) northeast of the centre of the town of Wigtown, the Martyr's Stake is a monument to the Wigtown Martyrs, including those who were put to death in the Bay by drowning tied to wooden stakes which were inundated by the tide. This monument was erected on the site of one of these original stakes.

Two local women, Margaret Wilson and Margaret McLachlan, were drowned here for their beliefs. Part of a group known as the 'Wigtown Martyrs' who were captured by Government troops, tried and sentenced having been accused of supporting the Covenanters and refusing to take the Abjuration Oath. The Martyrs were buried in the kirkyard of Wigtown Parish Church. Only Wilson's younger sister, aged 13, was released but her family were required to pay a bond of £100.


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