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The Church of Scotland
Bridge
of Allan Parish Church
WELCOME
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Bridge of Allan Parish Church |
History of
Bridge of
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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 |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 |
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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) |
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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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