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	The Church of Scotland Bridge of Allan Parish Church WELCOME
Bridge of Allan Parish Church	History of Bridge of Allan Parish Church
Chalmers Church	Two Church of Scotland congregations in Bridge of Allan agreed a basis of union in April 2003, and by independent arbitration it was decided that Chalmers Church should be vacated and the Keir Street building, at the time known as Holy Trinity Church should be the place of worship by the joint congregations. The joint congregation to be known as The Parish Church
Parish Church Sanctuary	Holy Trinity Church was the product of the union in 1942 of the congregation then occupying the present church in Keir Street, at that time known as St. Andrews Church, with the congregation of the former Trinity Church located at the foot of Well Road.
Trinity Church	Built in 1895 Trinity Church at the junction of Henderson Street and Well Road had replaced an earlier one dating from 1849. Originally a United Presbyterian establishment it became a United Free church in 1900 when the Free Church and the United Presbyterian Church united nationally. It was at this time that the title ‘Trinity’ was adopted. In 1929 together with most other U.F. Congregations, Trinity reunited with the Church of Scotland, reversing the Disruption of 1843. Trinity Church was a building of considerable architectural character, designed in 1895 by John Honeyman with characteristics contemporary with the Mackintosh designs seen in the Keir Street Church furniture. The ravages of wartime use as an army billet from 1942 were evident and although there was a suggestion for an alternative use when it became vacant, Trinity Church was judged to be structurally unstable and was demolished in 1948. There is a plaque on the wall to the right of the lamp post in the public garden now occupying the site, and also the Local Council have erected an information plaque on the railings in front of the lamp post.
Sanctuary showing wooden roof spars	The Parish Church on the Keir Street site was erected in its original form under the aegis of the Parish Church of Logie and opened for worship in May 1858. In 1863 it received a constitution as a Chapel of Ease from the General Assembly. Six years later, sufficient capital having been raised to endow the church, its district was created a quoad sacra parish in 1869. Known thereafter as the Parish Church it took the name of St. Andrews in 1930 following the national reunion mentioned above, and in 1949 Holy Trinity on union with Trinity Church returning to the name Parish Church in 2003 after the union with Chalmers Church
The Mackintosh Chancel furniture (1904)	In 1866/67 the original building (the Chapel of Ease) was enlarged by the erection of an additional aisle to the south designed by James Collie (virtually doubling the capacity). The same approach was adopted, when some ten years later in 1877, the property was once again extended, this time to the north. This latter extension, designed by Robert Baldie of Glasgow, also involved the erection of the vestibule with balcony over, and necessitated the relocation of the spire. The Church Bell has the name Robert Baldie cast on it. The church halls and church officer’s house (the latter converted in 1995 to additional meeting room and office accommodation) were added in 1894/95 and were designed by John Honeyman, an elder of the church (refer to the Charles Rennie Mackintosh chancel furniture page)
Communion table from Chalmers Church Chalmers Church Sanctuary Chalmers Church Sanctuary	Chalmers Church, Bridge of Allan, was built in 1854 for a free church congregation which had no building in which to worship after the split in the Church of Scotland eleven years earlier in 1843, known as the “Disruption”. The picture shown on the left is the original Communion Table, first used before the building of Chalmers Church and restored in 2004 and brought into the Parish Church. Chalmers Church replaced the original Old Free Church in Union Street which had been used after the split in the Church of Scotland eleven years earlier in 1843. The church cost some £2,670 to build and was financed by monies provided by the original church members. Thomas Chalmers was born in Anstruther, Fife in 1780. He was a Presbyterian minister who was the first Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland. From 1815 he gained fame as one of the great pulpit orators of his day as minister of Tron Church, Glasgow, and at St.John’s Kirk in Glasgow from 1819. In 1823 he gained the Chair of Moral Philosophy at the University of St.Andrew’s, then in 1828 Professor of Theology at Edinburgh University. Chalmers was leader of the Evangelical party of the Church of Scotland that desired independence for the Church from civil interference and who advocated the right of parishioners to choose their minister. The factional conflict culminated in the Disruption of 1843, when on May 18th a group of 203 commissioners walked out of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in protest against the government’s refusal to grant spiritual independence to the church. Chalmers was made Moderator of the new Free Church of Scotland, and was subsequently chosen as principal of the church’s New College, Edinburgh. He died in 1847. The Free Church remained independent until1900 when the Free Church and the United Presbyterian became one body, the United Free Church of Scotland. The Name Chalmers Church was adopted to differentiate it from the former United Presbyterian Church in Bridge of Allan, which adopted the name Trinity Church. In 1929 when the disruption was reversed the United Free Churches and the Church of Scotland united. Chalmers church therefore returned to the fold of the Church of Scotland.
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