“On 24th February 1716, William Gordon 6th Viscount Kenmure was executed on Tower Hill London, for his role in the 1715 Jacobite Rising.
It was the end of a journey that had begun the previous autumn when he had left Kenmure Castle to lead the Lowland Jacobite Forces.
Viscount Kenmure recruited Lords, Lairds and men from New Galloway and the surrounding areas in Dumfries and Galloway and beyond.
The men that joined Kenmure were from different backgrounds, some were from former Covenantor families who just a few years previously had been sworn enemies of The Royal House of Stuart and The Gordons of Kenmure.
How did Kenmure persuade these men to follow him ?
After the death of Viscount Kenmure his widow the formidable Lady Mary Gordon battled to save the Kenmure estates for her eldest son Robert.
The Gordons of Kenmure continued to support the Stuarts in exile right through to 1745 when John Gordon of Kenmure met Prince Charles Edward Stuart in Edinburgh.
In the years that followed the death of Viscount Kenmure it was never established if his remains were returned to The Glenkens to be laid to rest in the family vaults at Dalry.
Research carried out by Ron Dutton and David Bartholomew former minister of Dalry Church aims to discover if William Gordon 6th Viscount Kenmure rests with his family in the vaults of The Gordon Aisle at Dalry Church”.
This event is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund,with thanks to National Lottery players
