Ecosse and Beyond: 15th June

We drove back to Bridgend to see the cemetery. We went to the Brewery first – a bit like the one on Colonsay

A tower, something to do with the Big House

They were on their best behaviour on our visit

We then went to Bowmore

You can still tether your horse outside the butcher

The kirk is round so that the devil can’t hide in corners (photos taken on a different day so don’t be confused by the wet)

The "Round Church" was built in 1767. The roof is supported by a single massive central pillar.

There is a memorial to the Rev Donald Caskie (1902-1983), former minister of The Scots Kirk in Paris , known as the Tartan Pimpernel for aiding over 2,000 Allied servicemen in their escape from occupied France. He was born in Bowmore in 1902, the son of a crofter and became minister inParis in 1938. He had to flee Paris in 1940 having denounced the evils of Nazism from the pulpit. Instead of trying to return home he fled south, eventually ending up in Marseilles - he refused a place on the last ship to UK leaving Bayonne. At the British Seamen’s Mission, he set up a refuge for stranded Britons and with the help of Lt-Cmdr O’Leary RN, Pastor Heuzy (a local clergyman), the American consular and Britsh Intelligence, Caskie helped many Allied service personnel to flee France. Caskie came under the suspicion of the Vichy government and German authorities, and was betrayed by a fellow Briton. Pastor Heuzy was one of many to be executed. Lack of evidence saved Caskie’s life for the first time; instead he received a suspended prison sentence and was ordered to leave Marseilles. This was partly helped by Caskie confounding his interrogators by speaking Gaelic.

Caskie went to Grenoble and acted as chaplain amongst the captured British soldiers. The Nazis had ordered that all British-born civilians in the occupied countries be interned in Germany. In a calculated risk, Caskie managed to influence the Italian camp commandant to release civilians. Caskie was arrested again and this time put on trial and sentenced to death. Awaiting execution by firing squad, Caskie asked to see a pastor. The German army padre Hans Helmut Peters appealed to Berlin to spare Caskie who spent the rest of the war as a POW. He resumed his ministry in Paris after the war. He was awarded the OBE and also honoured by the French government. The proceeds from his book, the Tartan Pimpernel, were used to carry out repairs to the Scots Kirk in Paris