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SC S' sv\s. 2-% PUBLICATION S OF THE SCOTTISH HISTORY SOCIETY VOLUME XXIV INVERNESS AND DINGWALL PRESBYTERY RECORDS October 1896 4- RECORDS OF THE PRESBYTERIES OF INVERNESS AND DINGWALL 1643-1688 Edited, with an Introduction, from the Original Manuscript, by WILLIAM MACKAY for the Scottish History Society 1896 INTRODUCTION The Seventeenth Century Records of the Presbytery of Inver- ness, so far as known to exist, consist of one volume, containing the proceedings of the Presbytery from 5th April 1670 to 19th September 1688.1 The minutes of the year 1643 are printed from a copy taken from an older volume, unfortunately now lost; and there is recorded on 2nd July 1672 a copy of the minute of a meeting of the Presbytery held at Boleskine on 26th May 1632, which is the earliest record of the Presbytery now extant. That minute is not flattering to the people of Stratherrick, whose minister complained 4 that he could not ‘ live in Boleskine for the evill neighbourhood of the tenents ‘ yrof, who would not permitt his goods [i.e. his cattle] to ‘ pasture on his own grasse, and that the Tutor of ffbyer 4 attempted not only to denude him of the grass, but also a 4 part of the land designed alreadie ’; but it is interesting as containing early mention of crofts and crofters, and the earliest account probably now known of the formal designation of a glebe in the Highlands. The Seventeenth Century Records of the Presbytery of Dingwall now extant consist of three volumes, in which are found the proceedings of that Presbytery between 19th June 1649 and 13th October 1687.2 It appears, however, from the Minutes of 17th March and 21st April 1653, that there existed in that year an 4 old pbfie booke being at the beginning thairoff 4 of the daite 12 Novemb. 1633 zeires, and ending at the daite 4 18 Octob. IbS?.’ That old book has, like many another church See footnote, p. 135. 2 See footnote, p. 366. ' vi INVERNESS AND DINGWALL RECORDS register, fallen a prey to the troubles or the carelessness of the olden times. The editor, with the approval of the Council of the Society, has not always given the full minute in the following pages. Such portions—chiefly of a formal nature—as were in his opinion of no value from a historical or social point of view have been omitted. Again, such paragraphs as are within brackets [ ] only give the purport of the minutes to which they refer. Certain lists, however, of persons charged with the offence of supporting Montrose and the Royalist cause, which have been omitted from their proper places, have been given as an Appendix. The Presbyteries of Inverness and Dingwall were both pro- posed by the General Assembly in April 1581, and it is pro- bable that they were erected soon afterwards. The Inverness Presbytery is mentioned in 1593 but probably the earliest reference to that of Dingwall is in the records printed in this volume. The bounds of the former embraced in the seven- teenth century its present parishes of Inverness and Bona, Kirkhill or Wardlaw, Kiltarlity, Urquhart and Glenmoriston, Dores, Daviot and Dunlichity, Moy and Dalarossie, and Petty; as well as Boleskine and AbertarfF, which was dis- joined on the erection of the Presbytery of AbertarfF in 1724,2 and Croy, disjoined on the erection of the Presbytery of Naim in 1773. The bounds of the Presbytery of Dingwall embraced its present parishes of Dingwall, Alness, Con tin, Fodderty, Kilmorack, Kilteam, Urquhart and Logie Wester, and Urray ; together with the wide western parishes of Applecross, Gairloch, Kintail (including the present parish of Glenshiel), Lochalsh, Lochbroom, and Lochcarron, which are now within the Presby- tery of Lochcarron, erected in 1724. The two Presbyteries thus exercised between them an almost unlimited jurisdiction 1 2 Scott’s Fasti, v. 252. Urquhart and Glenmoriston were within the Presbytery of Abertarff from 1724 till 1884. INTRODUCTION vii over an extensive district stretching from sea to sea across the heart of the Highlands, and inhabited by all sorts and con- ditions of men, from the peace-loving, money-making shop- keepers of the burghs of Inverness and Dingwall, to the wild, kilted, Gaelic-speaking mountaineers, who to-day followed their cattle in the glens, and to-morrow their chiefs on the field of battle — from the stem Covenanters of Alness and Kiltearn to the careless, easy-minded Roman Catholics of Strathglass, Glenmoriston, and Abertarff. On the history of that district, and the religious and social condition of its inhabitants, these Records throw light of no inconsiderable power and value. The period covered by them was one of turbulence and unrest, in things temporal as in things spiritual—the last years of Charles the First, the years of Cromwell’s rule, and the reigns of Charles the Second and James the Seventh. In 1638, the ‘ Second Reformation ’ in Scotland was effected by the Glasgow General Assembly, and Episcopacy for a time gave place to Presbytery. Guthrie, Bishop of Moray, in whose province the Presbytery of Inverness lay, was deposed; and the scholarly Maxwell, within whose diocese of Ross the Presbytery of Ding- wall was situated, was deposed and excommunicated. Still, the Covenant of 1638, which was subscribed with enthusiasm in the South, met but with scant welcome in the North, and it was subscribed by few within the bounds of our Presbyteries, except in the parishes of Alness and Kiltearn, which were subject to the influence of Munro of Fowlis. Fowlis and most of his relatives and clansmen were keen Covenanters, and his admira- tion for ‘ y® godlie in y® West Cuntrey n—that is, the extreme Remonstrants of the south-west of Scotland—was so great at a later period that he refused to accept any minister for the parish of Kiltearn who was not approved of by them. The inhabitants of our bounds, as a rule, continued faithful to 1 See p. 245. viii INVERNESS AND DINGWALL RECORDS Episcopacy and the King, and even such of them as had no great objection to the Covenant of 1638, strongly opposed the more revolutionary Solemn League and Covenant of 1643. In every movement of the time in defence of the monarchy, they had their share. They fought under the banner of Montrose in his brilliant first campaign, and thus won for themselves the title of £ Malignants.1 They subscribed to the Earl of Seaforth’s ‘ Remonstrance.’ They joined the‘Engagement’ of 1648, and followed the Duke of Hamilton into England. They followed Lord Reay and Mackenzie of Pluscardine in the rising of 1649 in support of Charles the Second, and before their defeat at Balvenie helped to capture Inverness, and to expel the garrison and demolish the town’s walls. And when Montrose landed in Caithness, and entered on his unfortunate campaign of 1650, they openly expressed their sympathy with him, although his defeat before he reached the bounds probably prevented their actually joining him to any considerable extent. These courses led to numerous prosecutions by the Solemn Leaguers, and the Malignant ministers of Dingwall, Contin, Fodderty, Kiltearn, and Urray, were deposed, while the elders of LTrray, Lochalsh, Lochcarron and other parishes were declared incapacitated. The few ministers who were thus left in the Presbytery of Dingwall combated Malignancy for a time with vigorous zeal. The guilty were fined, placed on the stool of repentance, and in some cases excommunicated; and, lest they should, before giving due satisfaction, become partakers of the Lord’s Supper, ministers and sessions were warned not to administer the Communion to any person without the Presbytery’s advice and sanction. But this zeal did not last long. The masterful activity of the English Sectaries, not only in civil affairs, but also in matters spiritual, gradually estranged their Scottish adherents; and when, early in 1651, preparations were being made for that invasion of England which ended so disastrously at Worcester, the Dingwall pro- cesses were brought to an end with speed and clemency, to INTRODUCTION ix enable the accused to join the expedition. After Worcester, Cromwell’s soldiers overran Scotland, planting garrisons, among other places, at Inverness and Brahan within our bounds. ‘It were vain,’ wrote Mr. James Fraser, a member of the Presbytery of Inverness, who experienced the goodwill and hospitality of the English soldiers, ‘to relate what advan- tages the country had by the Inverness garrison.’ The advan- tages were undoubtedly great—for a time war and spoliation ceased — but nevertheless the presence of the English at Brahan was not liked by the gentlemen who constituted the Presbytery of Dingwall. Probably they had good reason for disliking it. On 16th December 1651, the Presbytery met at Logie Wester privately, ‘ in regaird of the enemie.’ Fifteen days later the brethren were unable to meet at Urray as arranged, ‘ in respect of ane conventione of the Inglishes at Urray ’ the same day. At the meeting of 16th March 1654, Mr. Donald Macrae, minister of Urray, ‘ was excused for his last dayis absence, being impeded and molested be the Englishe garisone.’ And in the following December the brethren had not the usual ‘ exercise,’ ‘ in respect the exerciser was abs- tracted be quartering on.’ One effect of these unpleasantnesses with the English was to cause the members of the Presbytery of Dingwall to think more kindly of the Malignant brethren who had been deposed. No new ministers had been found to fill the pulpits of these unfortunate men, and for years their stipends were diverted from their proper purposes and applied to such objects as the support of lads at schools and students at college, the build- ing of the bridges of Dingwall and Alness, and the construc- tion of public works within the parish of Contin.