Transactions. 61 



for those large conventicles of which we read. The north- 

 west portion of the Parish consists of a considerable hill — if 

 we may not dignify it by the term mountain — called the 

 Bishop's Forest, and in a secluded glen or gorge near to the 

 top of this hill the Covenanters frequently met, and they 

 have left on the spot significant memorials of the object for 

 which they there assembled. I refer to the " Covenanter's 

 Tables," or as they are commonly designated " The Com- 

 munion Stones," and so far as I know they are the only relics 

 of the kind that have been preserved to our day. These 

 tables consist of four rows of large stones, each row contain- 

 ing about 30 seats, and at one end there is a circular heap or 

 pile of stones a few feet high, on which the Communion ele- 

 ments were placed, and beside which the officiating minister 

 must have stood in dispensing the holy ordinance. Consid- 

 ering the circumstances of the Covenanters, no place could 

 have been selected more suitable for their purpose. In that 

 moorland solitude the congregation would be completely con- 

 cealed from the view of any one, but a short distance remov- 

 ed, and it is exceedingly probable that at the time the lower 

 part of the valley was covered with natural wood, so that 

 even in the act of assembling the people might have availed 

 themselves of its screen. Besides, two or three sentinels 

 stationed within sight and hearing of the assembly would 

 have a commanding view of the surrounding country, and 

 could easily have given the alarm, in the event of the ap- 

 pearance of the dragoons. 



II. The Minister of Irongray, at the period of the Cove- 

 nant, as it is called, became a zealous Covenanter. He was 

 one of nearly 400 ministers who were ejected from their 

 Parishes in 1G62 when the Presbyterian form of Church 

 Government was overturned and the Episcopal form establish- 

 ed. As this man was connected with a somewhat distin- 

 guished family I may perhaps be allowed to mention one 

 or two things regarding him. His name was John Welsh, 

 and he was a great-grandson of the famous John Knox ; his 

 great-grandmother being the daughter of Lord Ochiltree, 



