Greyfriars Kirk
Covenanters’ Bastion
Because it was pretty comprehensively destroyed by fire, then rebuilt in 1845, Greyfriars Kirk is not a particularly interesting church, but it's certainly played a fascinating role in Scottish history.
The Covenanters
It was here that the National Covenant – which protested the imposition of King Charles I's episcopal church – was signed in 1638. And it was here too that many of these so-called Covenanters were executed and piled into mass graves. The church even served as a prison for Covenanter forces captured in the 1679 Battle of Bothwell Brig. A Martyrs Monument in the churchyard provides a sobering reminder of these miserable times.
Greyfriars Bobby