Bo’ness Free Church

The old Free Church building near the shore with the new one on the hill behind.

(SMR 295 & 296)

NT 0053 8154; NT 0066 8134

1843    Bo’ness Free Church                          1900

1900    St. Andrews United Free Church       1929

1929    St. Andrews Church of Scotland

TIMELINE

1843: At the Disruption part of the congregations from Bo’ness and Carriden left the Established Church for the Free Church movement.   Meetings were held for divine worship in a sawmill at the Links, then at “Old Barns”, Grangepans, east of Man O’ War Street.  Rev. Lewis Irving helped to organise the new church.

1844: Site obtained from the Duke of Hamilton on a one hundred year lease at the east of the Links at the boundary between the parishes of Bo’ness and Carriden, now known as Boundary Street.  The new building cost £366 and was built on the west side of the street.

1850:  An inscription placed on the south wall stated that the building had its “Walls raised and roofed anew”.

1873: The same inscription continues “Tower and wing added and reseated”.  Cost £800, and the church re-opened in April.

1880s: Mission hall established in Linlithgow Road, Newtown.

1905 Bo'ness Free Church
The 1905 building looking south-west

1905:  New church built in Grange Terrace.   Designed by J N Scott and A Lorne Campbell in the perpendicular style it has Art Nouveau details.  It is built in a cruciform plan of pale snecked rubble with ashlar dressings.  The three stage tower lies at the north-east and contains the entrance under a square moulded head and hoodmould.  It has angle buttresses at the second stage supporting Art Nouveau pedestals attached to the clasping buttresses of the third stage.  This stage also has louvred belfry openings.   The tower is finished with a battlemented parapet and a green copper fleche.  An octagonal stair tower rises above the parapet with delicate Art Nouveau pedestals at each angle extending above the concave, conical roof.   The church has wide perpendicular traceried windows in the gables.

The interior consists of a four bay nave with north gallery over the vestibule.  Chamfered arcades provide aisles that merge into the transepts.

1908:  The old building in Boundary Street was reconstructed by H. Cadell and used as the Grange Institute.  It then became the Bo’ness United Social Club and was demolished in 2012.

MANSE

1844: The first manse was designed by Rev Lewis Irving.

The later? manse was at Erngath Road, west of The Knowe.

FITTINGS

1896: Oak pulpit supplied by Clapperton & Sons of Princes St., Edinburgh.

ORGAN

1926: Cost £ 1100.

WINDOW

See separate page for Bo’ness St. Andrews Church Windows, the first of which is a WW1 Memorial to the fallen.

WAR MEMORIAL

See separate entry about Bo’ness St. Andrew’s WW1 Roll of Honour

MINISTERS OF BO’NESS ST. ANDREW’S

1844Dempster, Alex P.Jun 1854
1854Wilson, DanielJan 1884
May 1884Hunter, William SmithJun 1905
Nov 1905Barnett, Thomas RatcliffeJan 1914
Apr 1914Falconer, Gerald ScottNov 1917
Jun 1918Alexander, ThomasOct  1939
Apr 1940Gibson, Alastair MacDonaldJul   1948
Jan 1949Johnston, William BryceMar  1955
Sep 1955MacMillan, William Boyd RobertsonJul   1960
Jan 1961Low, James Eric StewartMar 1966
Oct 1966Anderson, John FergusonOct  1975
1981Bogle, Albert OrrPresent

G.B. Bailey (2019)