Bo’ness R.C. Church

The 1963 RC Church looking east.

(SMR 293 & 297)

NS 9982 8156 & NS 9962 8093

ST. MARY OF THE ASSUMPTION CHURCH 

Timeline

1883: Roman Catholic congregation used the old United Presbyterian Church building on Providence Brae which became known as St. Mary’s Hall.

1884: A new building was built to the south of the old church by G.C. Stewart with an entrance onto Stewart Avenue.   The small space between the two buildings was subsequently roofed over at first floor level and utilised as toilet accommodation.

1889: The old church and the hall were bought by the Catholic Church and the new hall used as the chapel and consecrated, the old church building being used for a school.   As the school roll increased it was decided to move this into the larger and newer building, worship resuming in the old building.

1963:  New building designed by Coia (of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia) at the south-west corner of Dean Road and Linlithgow Road.  The triangular plan had its apex towards the road junction.  The congregation occupied this end, facing the broad end of the building on the west.  The building had a flat roof and white rendered concertina in Le Corbusier tradition.

1989: Coia building demolished, the expense of keeping it watertight and struc­turally sound being too much for the congregation.   A building with a wooden internal structure erected in its place, the site being limited due to the instability of the ground.  This box is faced with brick and roughcast, with a pyramidal roof by Flemings Timber Buildings.

Priests of Bo’ness R.C. Church

Phelan

Brennan                      present

G.B. Bailey (2019)