Sacred Heart RC Church

(SMR 270)

 NS 9271 8185

NS 9300 8168

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church

Porteous speculates about a medieval church at the Orchard possessed by the Abbey of Holyrood.

TIMELINE

1885: Meetings in Grangemouth.

1890s: Mass celebrated in the Lesser Town Hall and a hall at the New Docks.

1893: Feu obtained for a piece of ground in Kerse Road.

Illus: Map showing the R.C. Chapel & School, Kerse Church, Grange Church, Grangemouth Parish Church and Dundas Church. The 1927 chapel was erected at the bottom right hand corner of the map.

1895: Chapel-school opened November.  It was dedicated to the Sacred Heart, holding 200. The chapel, according to plans prepared by G. Deas Page, architect, Falkirk, consisted of a nave, sacristy, confessional, and porch.  It was designed in French Gothic, divided into five bays; the chapel lighted at the south by two double-light windows, and the sides with three-light windows.  The roof was supported by four principals resting on carved cornets.  The sacristy lay on the west side, with stone parapet and wood work over.  The gables at each end were surmounted by carved stone crosses.  The cost was approximately £900. The mason was John Gardner. 

 1901: Established as a distinct mission.

1927:  New church erected between Dalratho Road and Drummond Place.  The foundation stone placed by Henry Graham, auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of St Andrew’s and Edinburgh, on the 29th November 1925.  Archibald Macpherson, architect, it is in the Gothic revival tradition.  Built in snecked rubble with a tiled roof it has round headed windows in pairs and salient buttresses.   A five-sided porch at the west end has a figure of Christ in a niche above it.  The interior is aisled, with the internal walls and arcades of brick and an open timber ceiling.   There is a gallery at the west end and a sanctuary arch at the east.  Opened 21 May 1927 by Bishop Graham.

The statue of the Sacred Heart was donated to commemorate the fallen heroes of the 1914-18 war and was erected in August 1927.

1955: Archbishop Gordon Joseph Gray consecrated the church on 23rd November 1955.

1968: Bell tower added.

WINDOW

Stained glass window depicting the baptism of Our Lord by John the Baptist and the appearance of Our Lord to St Margaret Mary were put into the church before 1955.

PRIESTS OF GRANGEMOUTH R.C. CHURCH

1901 Birnie, Patrick1908
1908 Foley, John1913
1913 Gillon, Thomas1918
1918 Welsh, WalterJan 1938
1938 Ward, John1943
1943 Ward, Dolty1972
1972 McGowen, John1979
1979 Anthony, William1989
1989 McMahon, Joseph2000
2000 Glancy, Leo2019

G.B. Bailey (2019)