Turbulent Times: Covenanters, Witch-Hunting & Civil War

A decade before the Queensferry Crossing reshaped the skyline, I’d walked the closes often enough to see how older stories lingered. Estate records and kirk session notes show how the burgh’s 17th-century tensions surfaced in the smallest corners of daily life.

This chapter examines Queensferry’s involvement in the National Covenant, its limited civil defences, the rise and collapse of local witch-hunting, the shifting authority of kirk and crown, and the wider political pressures shaping the burgh through the Civil Wars.

Religious, Legal and Cultural Pressures

Queensferry’s signature of the National Covenant in 1638 reflected growing resistance to liturgical reforms and Crown interference. Surviving parish references suggest a town following broader Lowland patterns, where allegiance shifted between loyalty to the monarchy and adherence to Presbyterian discipline under local ministers.

During this period, the kirk session’s authority expanded significantly, enforcing discipline on matters ranging from sabbath conduct to personal morality. Evidence from the era shows the burgh adopted stricter oversight, mirroring tensions across Scotland as religious conformity hardened. These pressures framed many later conflicts within Queensferry.

The arrival of a new minister, Ephraim Melville, in 1641 intensified these dynamics. A strict adherent of Reformation ideals, he enforced behavioural codes far beyond worship. By his tenure’s end, the burgh had experienced some of its harshest moral scrutiny, demonstrating how individual clergy could shape local culture during unstable decades.

What the Records Show

Harbour logs and local papers reference the town’s efforts to defend itself after the Covenant’s signing. With fears of royal retaliation, Queensferry attempted to secure weaponry from Edinburgh, Leith and Bo’ness, though documentation indicates only seven workable muskets by 1640. Fortifications of sand and straw were raised near the harbour with limited effect.

General Leslie’s army passed through the same year and conferred honorary status on the burgh. Queensferry likely supplied recruits, following the pattern of other small east-coast towns. These movements situate the Ferry within the mobilisation that led to major engagements such as Marston Moor, though the town acted mainly as a logistical waypoint rather than a strategic site.

Records from the early 1640s show a community balancing routine trade with heightened political uncertainty. Commercial activity with northern Europe continued, yet the threat of conflict lingered. The tension between economic continuity and political disruption is visible across the surviving estate and burgh papers.

Social Structure and Community Life

The witch-hunting episode marks the most acute intrusion of national anxieties into local life. Under Melville’s direction, at least eight women were executed on Ferrymuir, with accusations rooted in social conflict, perceived blasphemy and breaches of discipline rather than occult practice. This aligns with regional patterns where fear and authority combined to produce severe outcomes.

Witchcraft charges in Queensferry frequently reflected disputes with kirk officials or community members. The surviving notes show cases tied to cursing, drunkenness and sabbath breaches. These reflect the era’s moral framework rather than supernatural claims. The abrupt end to prosecutions after Melville’s departure illustrates how local leadership shaped the intensity of the witch-hunt.

Despite these tensions, the burgh maintained its commercial rhythms during the mid-century. Soap-making, small-scale trade and ferry activity supported daily life. Even amid conflict, people continued with the work that sustained the town, showing a degree of resilience beneath the surface instability.

External Forces Shaping Queensferry

Queensferry’s role in the attempted 1680 arrest of Donald Cargill highlights its continued exposure to national disputes. The so-called Queensferry Paper, found on one of his companions, outlined constitutional principles that foreshadowed later political developments. The kirk where the incident occurred stood northeast of the Priory before its demolition in the 20th century.

The Civil Wars of the 1640s and later conflicts disrupted sea trade, and recovery was slow. Export patterns changed as markets tightened along the east coast, but archival references indicate commerce revived by the early 18th century. Queensferry’s location made it sensitive to national instability yet capable of regaining momentum when conditions improved.

The long-term effect of these upheavals was a community more tightly structured by religious and civic authority. By the century’s end, the foundations of the later burgh — in governance, discipline and trade — were firmly established, having been shaped by decades of external pressure.

Traces in the Modern Town

Although few physical remnants survive from the century’s conflicts, the burgh’s layout still reflects older defensive and institutional boundaries, which you can get a sense of when walking through the town. The proximity of ecclesiastical buildings to civic structures mirrors the entwined authority that once governed daily life. Remaining place names and alignments hint at the era’s organisational patterns.

The former sites of execution, defence works and political assemblies have largely disappeared under later development. Yet references in estate papers, kirk records and oral accounts keep their outlines intact. The turbulence of the 17th century remains embedded in Queensferry’s administrative history rather than its streetscape.

Local memory of witch-hunting and covenanting remains muted, often overshadowed by later industrial and maritime developments. Yet these episodes shaped patterns of authority and community identity that carried into subsequent centuries.

Queensferry’s 17th-century turbulence forged structures that underpinned its progress into the early modern period. Religious discipline, civic assertion and shifting trade all left endurin