IT IS AN unassuming inscription on a Glasgow church wall – but it is a stark reminder of one of the darkest periods in Scotland’s history.

“Here lye martyrs three,” it begins. “Of memory. Who for the covenant die; and witness is, gainst all these nations perjury. Against the covenanted cause of Christ, their royal king.”

This is the Townhead Martyrs’ Memorial, affixed to the boundary wall of Glasgow Evangelical Church.

It is dedicated to James Nisbet, James Lawson and Alexander Wood, three of an estimated 18,000 people who lost their lives in the Killing Time, a bloody and bitter conflict between the Presbyterian Covenanter movement and the government forces of Kings Charles II and James VII which encompassed the Battles of Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge.

This memorial is included in a vast new online collection created by family history website Findmypast.

Scotland Monumental Inscriptions is the result of a grassroots project in which local volunteers spent hundreds of hours throughout lockdown painstakingly transcribing the details found on more than a million headstones and memorials across the country.

Since the start of the pandemic, family history research has enjoyed a significant surge in interest, according to the website, and this new resource will help people take digital tours through the cemeteries of Scotland from the comfort and safety of home.

Glasgow Times:

Users can virtually visit the final resting places of ancestors and famous Scots alike to read epitaphs and uncover valuable family details. Spanning almost 1000 years of history dating back to 1093, this comprehensive digital archive covers around 800 burial sites in 688 parishes - 80 percent of the nation.

Some of Scotland’s most famous sons and daughters can be found within the collection, from ‘Scotland’s vilest man’, the Wolf of Badenoch, Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, who is said to have died after a chess game with the Devil; and Flora MacDonald, known for helping Bonnie Prince Charlie to escape after the battle of Culloden.

In Glasgow, the Townhead Martyrs’ Memorial helps to tell the story of the trio who, according to records, stayed defiant to the end.

At his execution, Alexander Wood lifted the napkin placed to cover his face and declare: “Friends I have good news to tell you, Christ will come again to the land.”

Written around the time of Scotland’s Union with England, it contains a few choice barbs written by those who rejected it.

“The British rulers made such laws,” it states. “Declared ‘twas Satan’s reign. As Britain lyes in guilt you see, tis ask’d, o reader! Art thou free?”

The memorial has moved around since first being erected in 1684. It was incorporated into the Carlton Cinema and when that was demolished, built in to a motorway flyover. Then, it went to the Martyrs’ Church, before finally being relocated to its current home.

Myko Clelland, Regional Licensing and Outreach Manager at Findmypast said: “Scotland is a nation of stories, but so many lie forgotten in cemeteries across the country. Through the tireless efforts of volunteers, combined with new technology, these stories can be told for the first time online.”