The East Kirk

IHNHeritage talksInverclydeInverclyde buildings

3 Oct

In the Watt Institution, there is a fascinating framed poster entitled 'Chronicle of Ministers and Churches in Greenock From 1589 to 1878'. At the bottom of this densely printed page, it states that it was printed for the 'Benefit of the BAZAAR FUND of the EAST PARISH CHURCH, Greenock'.

While it must be wondered how many copies were printed and sold, for family historians it is a source of legible names of celebrants with their churches which are often unreadable on marriage certificates. For the local historian, it provides a snapshot in time of religious practice in 1878 and acts as an aide memoire for those of us old enough to remember many of these churches which have disappeared since the sixties.

Religion in Scotland (very briefly)

Until 1560, the Christian religion practised across Scotland followed that of the Roman Catholic Church. After the Reformation Parliament of that year, Scotland’s Established church became the Church of Scotland which followed Protestant teachings and became administered by a Presbyterian system.

The East Kirk or Church

Mentioned in the Old Statistical Accounts of 1793, the church was originally built as a Chapel of Ease in 1774. The New Statistical Accounts (1845), state that it could accommodate 976 people which allowed 18 inches (45.72 cm) per sitter. It became a church when the parish of Greenock was subdivided into three parishes, with the erection of [creation of] the East Parish on 8th March, 1809.

*1825 map: Church outlined in red and marked with an l*: *Reproduced with the permission of the* *National Library of Scotland*

According to Daniel Weir (1829), the East Parish Church was situated near the Rue-end, above the entrance to Bogle Street. 'It is a plain building surrounded with trees and a wall: close by it is the manse.' There was a free manse and a stipend [minister’s salary] of £200 per annum.

The later local historian R M Smith (1921) gives more detail. It was sited at the corner of Chapel Street and Bogle Street - currently under the entrance to Morrison’s supermarket. It was built to a [then] 'old-fashioned square box pattern, with green-painted pews, and the pulpit had a canopy on the apse of which was a gilded dove with a sprig of olive in its beak.'

There was an entrance from Bogle Street and one from the north where 'the elders stood or sat in wooden sentry-boxes'. Old lime trees surrounded the building which had as members Neil Dougall, composer of psalm tunes including Kilmarnock ♫ and Robert Simpson who [according to Smith] composed Ballerma ♫ [but seems to have adapted rather than composed].

The manse was built its own ground adjoining the church with a sum of £700 jointly borrowed by the Corporation, and the congregation and the proprietors. Smith says that 'the papers connected with the manse were not very clear' however he states that one third of the church belonged to the town [corporation] and two-thirds to private parties.

A New Building

A new church was built to accommodate 854 people at the south east corner of Regent Street and Antigua Streets in 1853.

1912 map: church outlined in red: Reproduced with the permission of the *National Library of Scotland*

It remained there until the church was closed and the congregation dissolved on 31 Dec 1973.

Today, all that remains is the steeple bell encased in a cage shown at the beginning of the blogpost. Its location seems to be around the spot where the brown church information board is shown in the image below. The East Kirk name is remembered in the flats called East Kirk Court behind this monument.