Memorial To Andrew Gullin, Claremont

Heritage listing

Category C Date Added 17/10/1973 Local Authority Fife Planning Authority Fife Parish St Andrews And St Leonards NGR NO 45848 14549 Coordinates 345848, 714549 — Dated 1738, restored by J Whyte-Melville in 1876 (see Notes). Segmental-arch-headed stone. To front, inset table inscribed - "The grave of Andrew Gullin who suffered at the gallow tree of Edinburgh July 1683. A faithful martyr here doth lie, a witness against perjury. Who cruelly was put to death, to gratify proud prelates wrath. They cut his hands ere he was dead, and after that struck off his head. To Magus Muir they did him bring, his body on a pole did hing. His blood under the altar cries for vengeance on Christ's enemies". To rear, inscribed - "Erected 1738, Restored 1876, Re-erected after being accidentally broken 1885". — Located among trees to the west of Claremont Farm, this simple inscribed 18th century burial memorial to Andrew Gullin remembers events related to the killing of Archbishop James Sharp by a group of Covenanters at Magus Muir in 1679. It is part of the wider history of martyrdom and the post-Reformation church in Scotland. Andrew Gullin (or Guillan), a weaver from Balmerino, was one of two men executed in 1683 for being present at the murder/assasination of Archbishop Sharp. There are numerous recorded variations on the spelling of his name including Guillan, Guilline, Gullan and Gulline. In his book, Balmerino And Its Abbey (1867) James Campbell records that two stones with identical inscriptions were erected to Andrew Guillan in the 18th century, the other being at Magus Muir. He also notes there is a "well-authenticated tradition that the present stone [at Claremont] was erected about 1788 and in the enclosing wall there are fragments of an earlier tombstone with words of the same insc

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.