According to the records, as the Bladnoch river's high tide slowly encroached, the two women, knowing the end was near, took strength from their faith. Margaret McLachlan, 63, and Margaret Wilson, 18, stood firm, bound to stakes.

The widow and the teenager were Covenanter sympathisers, a cause Northern Ireland's First Minister last night revealed had shaped his ideology.

Speaking at the opening of the Wigtown Book Festival, Dr Ian Paisley was due to spend a half hour talking about the deaths of the women on 11 May, 1685. Their demise, he said, had "influenced his life." ...