aug-09 - Lochwinnoch Online

THE BATTLE RAGES ON
by DEREK PARKER
SINCE time immemorial, battlefields
have been the terrifying scenes of
ghostly encounters. Several sites of
conflict are said to be haunted by
phantom figures of long-dead warriors
seeking revenge on spectral foes
against whom they fought in bloodthirsty
feuds during bygone days.
Muirdykes Mount in the hills above
Lochwinnoch is one of these
haunted battlefields. You can see it
from the visitor centre at Castle Semple
Loch. It's easily recognisable by
the single windswept tree cresting a
conspicuous mound west of Skiff
Wood on the far side of the loch.
The Battle of Muirdykes took place on
June 18, 1685. It was fought between
Royalist dragoons in the service
of King James VII and II, and the
Covenanters who opposed the monarch's
claim to be head of the Reformed
Church in Scotland.
The Covenanters were led by Sir John
Cochran, whose family lived at Cochrane
Castle, near Johnstone. The dragoons
were commanded by Lord Ross
of Hawkhead, near Paisley.
The battle site is marked on Ordnance
Survey maps by two crossed swords.
Today, more than 300 years later and
even on sunny, summer afternoons, it
still exudes an eerie atmosphere.
That spooky sensation is particularly
palpable around the anniversary of the
feud when the ghosts of the warriors
who fought and died at Muirdykes are
said to return to their former haunts to
settle old scores.
The small group of Covenanters who
took part in the conflict were part of a
larger army which had been recruited
in Holland. Under the leadership of
the Earl of Argyll, they planned to
make their way up the Kintyre peninsula
then along the Clyde estuary, past
Dumbarton, and on towards Glasgow
where they hoped to rally more support.
By the time they reached Old
Kilpatrick, however, many of the
Covenanters had lost heart and
drifted away. Those that remained
were separated and the Earl was captured
at Renfrew.
He was later executed in Edinburgh
on a macabre guillotine-like machine
known bizarrely as The Maiden. Today,
close to the Normandy Hotel in
Renfrew, there is a large rock known
as Argyll's Stone. Red marks on the
boulder are said to be the Earl's
bloodstains from the wounds he sustained
during his apprehension.
Following the arrest of Argyll, the
remainder of the Covenanting army
crossed the Clyde at Renfrew. The
river was easy to ford in these days
because it was very shallow, especially
at low tide.
The Covenanters headed southwards
towards Ayrshire, which was one of
their strongholds and the territory of
the Earls of Dundonald, who were
related to Sir John Cochran, their
commanding officer.
While journeying across the moors,
they were engaged by a detachment
of Royalist dragoons at Muirdykes
Mount and a fierce fight followed.
An eye-witness account of the battle
by one of the soldiers described how
muskets and pistols were fired as the
Covenanters resolutely defended the
small hillock known as Muirdykes
Mount. That's the landmark which
we can see from Castle Semple visitor
centre.
The soldiers' narrative tells how drystone
walls and heather-mantled hollows
were used for cover and how at
least four dragoons were killed. The
casualties included a Captain Clelland
who was carried from the field after
being struck by a musket ball. The
officer later died from his injuries.
The Battle of Muirdykes was an inconclusive
encounter with neither
victors nor vanquished. Both factions
retreated from the battlefield under
cover of darkness with the dragoons
heading for Glasgow and the Covenanters
continuing towards Ayrshire.
There was a grisly sequel to the event.
Nearly 300 years after the battle, an
old sword was discovered among reed
beds near Castle Semple Loch which
were being drained as part of an agricultural
improvement and land reclamation
project.
The location was less than one mile
away from Muirdykes Mount where
the battle was fought. The sword
was handed over to the former Renfrew
District Council and put on show
for a while at the sadly-defunct Lochwinnoch
Community Museum in the
village centre.
The weapon, which dated from the
Covenanting era, was thought to have
been used by one of the soldiers during
that fateful summer day at
Muirdykes Mount when the green
grass of the upland pastures was reddened
with the blood of dead and