The Family Cochran: Scotland Weekend Day Three

We did a lot on day three - I think we packed about as much into that day as we could. :) It was great though!! We saw so many wonderful historical sights as well as the beautiful Scotland countryside!! We even tried haggis, but more on that later... :) Enjoy the pictures!!!

Our first stop of the day was to visit Lochgoin Farm, a Covenanter hideout and home of the Howie family (of Scots Worthie fame) since the 1100's!!

It was definitely out in the country!!

Our GPS led us to this wind farm (you can see it in the distance here) and we were afraid that maybe the house and monument no longer existed, but we asked a man who worked there and thankfully he pointed us in the right direction.

The land for the wind farm is actually leased by the Howie Farm (a descendant of John Howie on his mother's side) as they own quite a bit of land in this area.

Yay, we made it!!!

As I stated above, Lochgoin Farm has been owned by the Howie family (or their descendants) since the 1100's. During the persecution the Scottish covenanters, their family helped to give them safety.

I was so happy to be here!! I've loved covenanter history for a long time and I admire them for their great trust in the Lord and faithfulness to Him in the midst of much persecution and even death.

We were excited to find that Mr. and Mrs. Barr were indeed home, so we were able to go inside!!!

The dates engraved about the doorway

Below are some pictures from the museum room

(If you click it, it should be large enough to read :)

"A copy of the arrant issued by the government for the apprehension of Rev. Richard Cameron and others June 1680"

"A copy of the National Covenant of Scotland, in its original form, with the autographs of the principle leading personages."

The autographs at the bottom

Old books

"Captain John Paton of Meadowhead in Fenwich, Ayrshire - A covenanter who was executed in the Grassmarket of Edinburgh - 9th May, 1685 for commanding a party of Covenanters at the Battle of Pentland and Bothwell Bridge."

We found this interesting because we would be going to Bothwell Bridge shortly.

Look at all the old books!! It was neat to see some of the things that were in the Howie family library. Many personal journals were also on the shelves as well as several works by Richard Baxter!

This was a neat cover on one of the "Scots Worthies"

In the museum room

After we looked around the inside, we got to meet Mr. and Mrs. Barr and visit with them for a few minutes. It was really special to meet and visit with a descendant of John Howie!!

We got to see their baby sheep too!!

Us kids with Mr. and Mrs. Barr

After our time at Lochgoin Farm, we headed for Bothwell Bridge which was the sight of a Covenanter battle in 1679 which then led into the killing times of the 1680's. Around 600 covenanters were killed and many more were taken prisoner. The prisoners were taken to a prison beside the grounds of Greyfriars Kirkyard. Keep this in mind as there will be more about that in my next post.

We prepare to walk across Bothwell Bridge

On the bridge

The monument is really neat

I love the top of it :)

"For Christ's Crown and Covenant!!!"

Below are pictures of the other three sides of the monument (hopefully I remembered my Roman numerals

right! :)

"Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life. " Rev. 2:10

The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance." Psalm 112:6

"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for their's is the Kingdom of Heaven."

Matt. 5"10

One closer up!

The government troops came from the direction of Glasgow through Bothwell

The covenanters came from the direction of Hamilton

I love old bridges! (as long as they don't break when I'm on them!! :)

Old Bothwell Road

On the bridge

A better look at it

Although this wasn't "on the books" we couldn't resist a quick look at Bothwell Castle on the way out.

Bothwell Castle

In the car the next day, I was reading a little bit of Scottish Cheifs (I haven't read very much yet, so I don't know if I'd recommend it or not! :) and in the beginning of the book there are a few things that take place at and around Bothwell Castle. I hadn't expected that and it was neat to be able to picture it!!

What's funny (and I should have gotten a picture of this) is that there is a neighborhood directly behind us. How would you like to have a castle in your backyard!!! :)

Next stop: Loch Lomond

On our way we drove through Glasgow.

Though we didn't stop, it was neat to see it from the car!!

Kelvingrove - another familiar name for Charlie Zahm fans

We drove through this little town too - we saw this neat little street.

More views from the car along the way...

This was a spectacular view - just beautiful!! Rolling hills on either side with a little river running through the bottom of the "valley" and a little village all tucked in between!! I only wish I could have gotten a better picture - this just doesn't do it justice!

Here's a little better view though

An old bridge

A neat little tree-lined road

Despite all the signs for Loch Lomond it took us forever to figure out how to drive down close to the water!! We thought we were going to be so close just to miss it altogether because we needed to get on to our next destination!!

A couple funny signs...

We had to laugh when we saw this sign. Are you familiar with the saying "One is none and two is one?" (basically meaning that it's always good to have a spare on hand, especially in certain situations). Well our family added to it and we say "Four is more and twenty's plenty!" (Sabrina came up with that one). It's more of a joke than anything, but always reminds us of when we were getting our rotational food pantry set up - that was interesting!!