Cleppy Bells

I think it's time now to continue with the tale of The Cleppy Bells (see comments on post "Clipping the church") .  Hopefully it won't be too much of a disappointment after the build-up.  It all started when we were visiting Dumfries and Galloway, and staying in Knock.  We visited Wigtown (Town of Books!) and went to have a look at the church.  There a very enthusiastic American lady told me the story of the Wigtown Martyrs. 

It has to do with The Killing Times and The Covenanters, which I couldn't pretend to explain to you.  It goes something like: James II of England, VII of Scotland was a Catholic; the Scottish church was Presbyterian; The Covenant was made in 1638, which was for Presbyterianism and against royal control of the Church.  When The Killing Times started, the authorities (for royal control of everything) prosecuted Covenanters and tried to force them to swear The Abjuration Oath, renouncing The Covenant.

In Wigtown, the two women, Margaret Wilson and Margaret McLachlan were imprisoned and required to swear the Abjuration Oath, and swear loyalty to the King.  They refused, were found guilty and sentenced to be killed by the tide (honest guv, it was the tide wot dun it, nuffing to do with me), that is to say they were chained up to stakes in the tidal channel of the River Bladnoch near to the entrance to Wigtown Bay, there to be drowned when the tide came in, and not executed by a person.

There was, understandably strong feelings on both sides about this happening in the town.  The two opposing sides were divided by religious, sovereignty and nationalist issues.  Someone, from a Bell family, on one side of the division, mocked the death of the women, talking about the women hung there with their hands "clept" around the stake.  This family of Bells became very unpopular, and were thought to be cursed with webbed fingers in retribution for their cruel laughter.  They were forever afterwards known as "The Cleppy Bells" and talked about in the way that you only can be in a small community.  Other Bell families made sure they were not associated with The Cleppy Bells.

So the story continued to the present day, a memorial day to The Wigtown Martyrs was planned, and ex-pat families from all around the world were returning to Wigtown.  The MP Martin Bell was invited, and he asked for some geneaological work to be done - which family of Bells was he descended from?  The answer - The Cleppy Bells.  Which only goes to show - some questions are best not asked.