Grangemouth Free Church

WEST CHURCH

(SMR 880) NS 9170 8214

CHARING CROSS CHURCH

(SMR 885) NS 9275 8205

1843	Grangemouth Free Church		1884
1844	Zetland Free Church	Charing Cross Free Church
	West Free Church	East Free Church	1900
1900	Zetland United Free Church	Charing Cross United Free Church
	West United Free Church	East United Free Church	1929
1929	Zetland Church of Scotland	Charing Cross Church of Scotland
	West Church of Scotland	East Church of Scotland	1976
1976	Charing Cross & West Parish Church		1978

TIMELINE

1837: Grangemouth becomes a “quad sacra” parish and a new church built in the Old Town with Lord Dundas as sole patron. The church was in the Norman style, similar to Kerse House, cruciform in plan with round-headed windows; it had a small belfry over the entry. A front gallery was reserved for the Dundas family and its dependants. Their coat-of-arms (now in Falkirk Museum) lay over the doorway with a flattened arch.

1843: At the Disruption Lord Dundas sided with the Free Church and gave them the use of the building. This was the first church building in Scotland to be officially handed to the Free Church.

1865: The building was gifted to the Free Church when the Established Church received a feu of their own in Grangemouth.

1860s: Free Church mission at the Albert Hall, York Lane.

1884: The location of the old church in the Old Town made it isolated and it was decided to erect a new building in the New Town and move there. The foundation stone was laid in April 1883 and the building opened in February the following year. The new building faced northwards on to the Bo’ness Road, presenting a gable 70 ft high terminating in a massive belfry. The style of the architecture is early pointed thirteenth century. The whole possesses massive simplicity and dignity with ample breadth and repose whilst having finish and refinement in details. The main doors give admission to a spacious central vestibule from which central doors lead to the ground floor seating; double doors to the east and west give access to the galleries by stairways, with cloakrooms on the landings. The seating on the two levels is circular in form. Two rows of columns support arches carrying the main roof and divide the church into a nave 30ft wide and 43ft high, with side aisles c9ft wide. An arched recess and platform pulpit occupy the east end opposite the entrance doors. Doors to the left and right of the pulpit led to a passage connecting with the session house, vestry, ladies room, with room to the south for a hall.

The old church was kept open by 157 members of the congregation who took over the ownership of the building in return for a contribution of £500 to the new building at Charing Cross. The manse was also transferred to the new church. The older church now became known as the “Zetland Free Church” and the new one the “Charing Cross Free Church”.

1885: West Church renovated for jubilee.

1887: Meetings in the Institute Hall during extensive renovations to West Church. A gallery roof of pitch pine inserted and Greek pattern fronts put on.

1893: The Deacon’s Court of the Free Church sold the hall and feu to M’Lagon, chemist and druggist, for £850. The premises were then occupied by the Dundas U.P. Church congregation whose new church was being built.

1894: Hall built to the rear of the Charing Cross Church by Henry Aitken, builder, according to a design of W G Rowan, architect, Glasgow, to accommodate 4-500.

1901: Hall built to rear of West Church in Norman style to accommodate 400 and capable of being divided by shutters. It was designed by G Deas Page, architect, Falkirk, and built by J Gardner, mason, Falkirk.

1920s: Mission hall at Beancross.

1928: Improvements to the church and hall at Charing Cross.

1976: West and Charing Cross Churches linked.

1978: March – last service in West Church.

1986: West Church demolished.

MANSE

1884: Old manse transferred to the Charing Cross Free Church. This lay behind the Dundas church and had been Wester Inch Farm House.

1893: New manse built for the West Church at a cost of £1,200.

FITTINGS

1887: An octagonal pulpit with a column cluster stand and a font of the same design were placed in the West Church to celebrate its jubilee.

WINDOW

See separate entry for stained glass.

WAR MEMORIALS

See separate entries for Grangemouth West Church War Memorial and for Zetland Parish Church

SEATING

1837: To seat 700

1884: New church to seat 950 plus 20 on the choir platform.

1887: Old church re-seated using plans by Black.

CHURCHYARD

1837: One Scot’s acre was included with the church of 1837 for a burial ground. The new church did not have any burial ground of its own.

MINISTERS OF GRANGEMOUTH FREE CHURCH

WEST CHURCH
Apr 1844	Cochrane, John	Jan 1869
Jun 1869	Sinclair, John	Oct 1880
Mar 1881	Cumming, George Watson	1884?
Jan 1885	Ridduck, Samuel Murdoch	Aug 1931
Jan 1932	Adamson, Graham Forrester	Feb 1949
Aug 1949	Martin, James Wilson	Sep 1959
Apr 1960	Connor, Malcolm Manfred	Nov 1969
Jun 1961	Weller, Thomas Harold Buxton
	Patterson, Alex
CHARING CROSS
	Cumming, George Watson
1884	Fraser, Thomas	Mar 1908
Sep 1908	Gray, Stewart Dickson	Jun 1937
Nov 1937	Hare, Malcolm McNeill Walker	Sep 1955
Sep 1964	Robertson, Alexander	Sep 1963
1982	Mathers, Daniel L.

G.B. Bailey (2019)