Camelon Irving Church

(SMR 1412)

NS 8732 8040

TIMELINE

1889    Irving Memorial Church       

1900 Irving Free Church

1900    Falkirk Camelon United Free Church  1906

1906    Irving United Free Church                  1929

1929    Irving Church of Scotland

1863   Memorial hall built by Rev. Lewis Hay Irving who lived in Dorrator House in Camelon.

1889: New church erected designed by G Deas Page in the Gothic style on land adjacent to the hall, feued from Ralph Stark.   The front elevation faces east onto Dorrator Road.  It contains a handsome entrance porch above which is a large traceried window 9ft wide and 15ft tall, and above that again is a belfry.   Two narrow arched Gothic windows were placed at the extremes of the gable and smaller windows in the sides of the porch to light the spacious vestibule (and a staircase should a gallery be inserted at a later date).   In the back gable is a window above the platform, it is a traceried window 8ft in diameter.  The side walls contain five arched windows each.  The ceiling is 32ft high and the iron tie rods can be seen.  To the rear of the church a small hall or session house, 24ft by 11ft, and a vestry.  The mason for the work was John Gardner, Polmont.  The Memorial stone was laid on 11th Jan 1890.  Cost £800.

1906: The Irving memorial Hall demolished and rebuilt to make two larger halls.

1969: Trial union with St. John’s and Camelon Trinity failed in October 1972.

1972: New hall to seat 270 in Dorrator Road to replace the earlier hall in Main Street demolished during the Council “improvements”.  Cost £20,000.  It included a kitchen and toilet facilities, with committee rooms upstairs.

2005: United with the congregation of St John’s.

FITTINGS

2002: Wall hanging showing a dove next to a crucifix above a townscape.  “Peace on Earth”.  Designed by Effie Ross and made by members of the congregation.

BELL

1892, Feb: Put in belfry in memory of Miss Irving.

SEATING

1890: Seat 320 (plus 206 in proposed gallery).

1906: Halls for 270 and 98 folk.

WINDOWS

See separate entry for stained glass.

WAR MEMORIAL

See separate entry for Camelon Irving & St John’s War Memorials

MINISTERS OF IRVING CHURCH

Jul 1890

Jaffrey, Robert LAug 1893

Apr 1894

Muirhead, JohnMar 1930

Sep 1930

Dewar, DuncanFeb 1935

Jul 1935

McGhie, JohnApr 1942

Aug 1942

Bruce, Arthur WilliamMar 1947

Jul 1947

Smith, James Alexander WemyssJul 1956

Feb 1957

McLeod, John AngusJun 1962

Nov 1962

McCallum, John1998

1999

Fulton, Sally Foster 

G.B. Bailey (2019)