I'll mak sikkar

In English - I'll make sure!

10 February, 1306.   Robert the Bruce slaughtered the Red Comyn in the Franciscan Monastery of Greyfriars in Dumfries.  He ran from the chapel, declaring that he wasn't sure he had killed him.

Roger Kirkpatrick shouted "I'll mak sikkar!",   drew his sword and ran into the church to put their mortal enemy to death.

Henceforth, the motto of the Kirkpatricks was "I'll mak sikkar. "     

Here in Troqueer Cemetery in Dumfries is the burial mausoleum of the Kirkpatricks.  The motto above the door remains the same.   Inside, disdaining common methods of disposing of their dead, Kirkpatrick coffins lie on shelves in deep gloom, as the centuries slip away.