The National Covenant was signed across Scotland in 1638 in protest against Charles I 's plans to introduce church services based on the English Prayer Book and church government by Bishops, contrary to the Presbyterian liturgy established by John Knox. Support for the Covenant was particularly strong in South West Scotland. After the Civil War and the restoration of the Stuart monarchy, Charles II sought to continue the reforms begun by his father, which were met with resistance in the upland Glenkens area of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright in particular. The Pentland Rising of 1666 developed from an incident in Dalry in the Glenkens.

Persecution of the Presbyterians by the government led to armed clashes between Covenanters and government soldiers, culminating in ‘The Killing Time' of 1684/5, when suspected Covenanters were executed on the spot without trial. Following the exile of James II in 1688, and the accession of William and Mary, the Presbyterian Church was confirmed as the established church of Scotland.

The Gordon family of Earlston, Dalry, were prominent supporters of the Covenant, and Alexander Gordon received a baronetcy from William and Mary in recognition of his services. When the Presbyterian settlement was challenged in 1715 by the Jacobite supporters of the exiled Stuarts, Sir Alexander Gordon's son, Sir Thomas Gordon, Deputy-Lieutenant of the Stewartry, was one of the leaders of 2000 men from the Stewartry, who

marched with colours flying, drums beating, with their Deputy Lieutenant and officers at their head into the town of Dumfries

in order to defend it against the Jacobites who were intent on seizing the town to make it a base for their advance into England.

This painted silk banner or battle flag is a relic of that occasion. The top left corner bears the crest and motto of the Gordon family, and the painted Latin inscription around the Rising Sun motif, translates approximately as:

Let God arise, and scattered be His enemies.
For Religion, Liberty and the Covenant

At some time after 1913, the banner was sent to a branch of the Gordon family, following their inheritance of the Baronetcy. This family had emigrated to Australia around 1850. In 1930, the Gordon family presented it on loan to the Scots Church in Sydney, and there it remained until the church closed in 2001. At this point the church authorities, with the agreement of Sir Robert Gordon of Earlston, Guyra, New South Wales, arranged to offer the banner to the Stewartry Museum. A project to repatriate and conserve the banner was developed and carried out with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Tuula Pardoe of the Scottish Museums Council Conservation Unit carried out the extremely delicate conservation work, which has allowed the banner to be redisplayed once again in the Stewartry.

Credit for the
image and information on this page goes to 'The Stewartry Museum, Kirkcudbright'.