The Covenanters' Prison: Here is the story behind Greyfriars Covenanters' Prison

The Covenanters’ Prison is yet another stain on Edinburgh’s already bloody history.

In a quiet corner of Greyfriar’s Kirk Yard sits a plaque, commemorating the people who were imprisoned, starved and killed on that very spot.

Protected by a locked gate, this quiet, grassy area was the Covenantors Prison.

The Covenanters were a group who fought to protect Presbyterianism from the Crown, and the Church of England.

Starting with the riots in St Giles Cathedral, and the now infamous Jenny Geddes launching her chair in protest during a service, church goers were not happy with hearing readings from “the booke of Common Prayer.”

The rioters were determined to protect Presbyterianism at all costs.

They signed the Covenant in Greyfriard Kirk in 1638, an act of rebellion that culminated in the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, where the Covenanters’ lost to the army of King Charles II.

The survivors were taken to Edinburgh – to an area of land bordering Greyfriars, and imprisoned.

The Covenanters' Prison: Here is the story behind Greyfriars Covenanters' Prison

According to the Scottish Covenanter Memorials Association: “For over four months these men were held here without any shelter, each man being allowed four ounces of bread a day.

"Kindly citizens were sometimes able to give them more food.

"Some of the prisoners died here, some were tried and executed for treason, some escaped, and some were freed after signing a bond of loyalty to the Crown.”

Those who were not executed were sent to be transported over seas to the American colonies, but tragically, the ship was wrecked in the Orkney Islands.

The Covenanters' Prison: Here is the story behind Greyfriars Covenanters' Prison

Out of the 257 men, only 48 survived.

The cruelty and torture the Covenanters endured was partially at the hands of George Mackenzie.

As the Lord Advocate he was responsible for implementing the policy of the King, gaining him the nickname "Bluidy Mackenzie”.

It is no wonder then that Bloody Mackenzie’s ghost is said to roam the Covenanters Prison to this day.

As Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote: “When a man's soul is certainly in hell, his body will scarce lie quiet in a tomb however costly ; some time or other the door must open, and the reprobate come forth in the abhorred garments of the grave.”