A community council has renewed its calls for the return of human remains discovered at Greenhead Moss almost 90 years ago.
The remains, thought by some to date back to the 1600s and possibly those of a covenanter killed for his religious beliefs, were discovered within sight of Cambusnethan Old Kirk in Wishaw but have been held by Glasgow Museums since 1955.
A campaign to have them returned to Wishaw in the 1990s was unsuccessful but Central Wishaw community council is again urging Glasgow City Council to return them, to allow interment at Cambusnethan.
The body was discovered just two feet below the surface in March 1932 by a local man, Gerard Rolink, who was digging peat. It was removed and taken to Newmains police station.
Alan Love, who is secretary of the community council, said: “They reckoned the remains were of a covenanter who was killed.
"They were found in a shallow grave within sight of the Cambusnethan church and have been stuck in a drawer in the basement of Kelvingrove Museum for years. They should be returned here to Wishaw.”
Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian group, viewed as political and religious extremists. A number of them were executed near Cambusnethan in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679.
Alan’s brother, former Wishaw councillor Sam Love, also thinks there’s no benefit to them being locked away from the public.
He met with elected members of the then Glasgow District Council in 1998 in what ultimately proved to be an unsuccessful attempt to have the remains returned.
He said: “Only one Glasgow councillor supported them being returned. One Labour councillor said the bones were of ‘great educational value to the people of Glasgow’.
“I asked how they could be if they had never been on public display?
“I don’t think Glasgow City Council will ever do anything with them. What benefit are they to anyone locked away in the archives in a basement?
“The remains should be buried at Cambusnethan.”
The skeleton has never been on display in the museum but a wool jacket, stockings, shoes and a cap it was wearing are.
Sam Love added: “The clothes are on display in Kelvingrove, and you can see the stab wounds in the chest.”
The hearing in Glasgow took place on the same day that a decision was made to return a ‘Ghost Shirt’ to the Lakota Sioux.
The shirt ended up in Glasgow when Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show rolled into town. There has been some debate on whether the shirt was actually taken from a Native American killed in the massacre at Wounded Knee.
Likewise, there is uncertainty over the remains discovered in Wishaw.
One expert who examined them thinks they could belong to a Royalist soldier murdered in the 18th century, as opposed to being a covanenter killed a century earlier.
A textiles expert who examined the clothing in the 1970s dated them to the around 1800. Regardless of when the individual was killed, his identity remains a mystery.
“We based the fact that they were the remains of a convanenter on the evidence that was supplied to Kelvingrove," Sam admitted.
The clothing was once on display at Motherwell Heritage Centre for around a month.
A spokesperson for Glasgow Life said: “The body and clothing discovered in 1932 was examined and excavated by Glasgow archaeologist Ludovic Mann. The remains were transferred to Glasgow Museums in 1955 as part of a larger bequest of archaeological material from Ludovic Mann.
“Extensive research, including research by respected independent scholar Dr Stephen Mullen, concludes the body dates to the late 18th/early 19th century, much later than the period of the Covenanters.
“There have been earlier formal and informal repatriation claims. The formal claim was turned down because it did not meet the necessary criteria established by the Glasgow City Council cross-party Working Group on Repatriation.
“The remains are professionally and carefully cared for at Glasgow Museum Resource Centre.”
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