Polmont North Parish Church

1844 to 1969

The Building and Opening of the New Kirk
Over the past few pages we have seen, amongst other things, how the population of Polmont Parish had grown from around 1,000 in the 1730's to 3,584 by the time of the 1841 census. Alongside this increase, the Parish church, built to accommodate 607, had not grown at all and, as we have already observed, was therefore inadequate to its purpose of holding a congregation of over 2,000 (even taking into account the loss of all those who formed the Free Church at Brightons). The Heritors' correspondence and accounts make clear that they were very conscious of the problem, and in 1819 several of them proposed that a bigger church be built or that a substantial extension be added to the old one. No result was achieved at that time because a substantial minority were against either course, but the Heritors went so far as to take legal advice on whether unanimity was necessary to effect a decision. The advice received seems to have been that unanimity was not indispensable, but extremely desirable, and so the issue was shelved.

But not for long, for the same proposal was brought forward in 1828. Having taken the opinion of the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh, the majority of the Heritors were confident that a) they could prove that a new church or a substantial extension of the old one was indispensable; and b) that the minority against could be obliged to comply. Again they did not press the matter to avoid divisions, and the outcome was the same. And so one can understand why Mr Ker, in addition to all the information he gave about Polmont Parish in the "New Statistical Account" of 1839/41 , also commented that the church had 749 communicants, and a total number of individuals connected to it of 2,585: "Yet how long the present church may stand it is hard to tell", he says, "It cannot be condemned, and by the existing law all the Heritors must agree before a new one can be erected; and, consisting of above 30, unanimity among so many is not easily attained." He had also described the old church building as "damp, ill-arranged, and most inadequate to the wants of the parish."

So, it was up to the Heritors exclusively to do something, because the problem was not going to go away. They without doubt debated their position and their responsibilities frequently and very seriously before agreeing, on 22 March, 1844, "to proceed with the building of a new church immediately." However, the siting of the new building was still problematical: in the minute of the same meeting on 22 March, they specified it as "upon the small garden immediately opposite to the churchyard" (i.e. on the other side of the Bo'ness road from the church)" attached to the schoolmaster's house belonging to the Heritors."

As will be shown in the next paragraph, it had been the wish of the Heritors - and indeed still was - to have the new church built on the manse glebe, next to the old church. The glebe extended northwards from the manse (Kinneil House), parallel to the Bo'ness Road and over what is now the M9, to the churchyard south of the old church building. However, the Heritors did not own the ground of the manse glebe, and had been unable to purchase an appropriate piece of it: hence their decision of 22 March, 1844, to build the new church on the other side of the road.

We can at this distance in time only guess - but it could well be a pretty good guess - at the game of bluff and counter-bluff that was being played out between the Heritors of Polmont Parish and the owner of the glebe land, Miss Kincaid (resident at 'Polmont Kirk' in the census, and grand-niece of John Kincaid of Saltcoats, one of the Heritors listed in 1775), who was doubtless being well advised professionally. It must have been interesting in the extreme, for at the next meeting of the Heritors, on 6 April, 1844, one of their number (unnamed) indicated that Miss Kincaid would be willing to sell the piece of ground "on the south-east of the present church, as staked off by Mr Tait" (architect). This is in effect where our church now stands. At the same meeting, the Heritors then agreed to offer Miss Kincaid £150 sterling for "one rood scotch" of ground on which to build the new church (1 rood = 0.25 acre).

But Miss Kincaid and her advisers were not finished yet. Conscious , no doubt, of the Heritors' impatience to proceed now that the decision had been taken to build the new church, she finally agreed on 20 April, 1844, to sell the piece of ground required by the Heritors; but the precise bargain struck was £150, "provided the rood be of imperial measure", i.e. not scotch. The rood imperial (UK) is of 1,210 square yards but the rood scotch of 1,440 square yards, i.e. 230yd 2 bigger.

So the site for the new church building was decided. Turning the clock back two weeks again, it is interesting to note that the contractors for all the main works were agreed on also at the meeting of 6 April, 1844. First of them to have his tender for the necessary work accepted was William Thorburn, contracting stonemason, of Front Row, Polmont (we are extremely fortunate that Mr Thorburn's account-books for the years 1834 to 1868 have been preserved: in addition to his estimate and accounts for building the new church, he provides a real fund of information about all his other building and jobbing work throughout the Polmont area, and even the details of all the apprentices whom he took on). The church that we see 150 years after it was built is ample testimony to the craftsmanship of William Thorburn (who lies buried in Polmont Churchyard) - and indeed to all the tradesmen involved; allied to this attribute of skill, it is perhaps worthwhile to observe that the mason did not put off any time in going about his business either, for we know that approval to go ahead with the work cannot have been given before 20 April, 1844; and yet the foundation stone in the south-east corner of the church had been laid by 10 May:

"Stirling Journal & Advertiser", Friday 17 May, 1844"
"POLMONT. On Friday last, the resident Heritors of this parish assembled together to lay the foundation stone of a new parish church; the present being too small to accommodate the parishioners. They met in the parish school-room, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, whence they proceeded in a body, headed by Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Livingstone of Westquarter, supported on the right by the Rev. John Ker, minister of the parish, and on the left by Thos. Walker, Esq., M.D., Polmont Bank, to the NE corner of the glebe, where the new church is (to be) situated. The Rev. John Ker offered up a solemn and impressive prayer, which seemed to be deeply felt by the large multitude assembled. Having deposited, in a cavity of the stone, a bottle containing the gold, silver and copper coins of the latest dates, an Edinburgh Almanack, an Edinburgh Evening Courant of Thursday last, The Scottish Record of Wednesday last, an Irish newspaper, an abstract of the yearly business and duxes of the parish school, and a parchment relative to the church, Sir Thomas Livingstone then laid the foundation stone, and hoped that the blessing of Almighty God, the great architect of the universe, would rest upon this building, the minister and the parish. The completion of the work will be looked forward to with much anxiety by the parishioners who are deeply attached to their minister. The building being large, of Norman / Gothic style with all stones dressed and buttresses polished designed by John Tait, Esq., architect, Edinburgh, it will be an ornament to the neighbourhood and will prove a great blessing in promoting moral and religious improvement and will afford superior and additional accommodation from its large size to a numerous, intelligent and wealthy congregation."

Even allowing for a little journalistic overstatement, it would appear that in material terms at least Polmont had progressed a long way from the much more frugal times of the 1730's. And with all due respect to the reporter's understanding of architecture, the church's design contains much more of the Romanesque style of the Continent in the 12th and 13th centuries than of anything else, and virtually nothing of the Gothic to which he refers.

At any rate, the price tendered by Wm. Thorburn for the masonry-work of the project was for £910 - 0s - 0d. Work evidently proceeded quickly, for he was paid in six different stages from 24 May, 1844, to 25 March, 1845. This was followed by a gap until 13 November, 1845, when what was presumably the retention sum of £50 was released to him; and finally, on 18 December, 1845, Mr Thorburn received payment of £9-7s-3d for the last of the 'extra work' authorised by the architect, for the building of the new boundary wall and gateway. In all of these matters, the interests of the Heritors and the progress of the building project were closely supervised by the Heritors' building committee, ably led by the ubiquitous Dr Thos. Walker of Polmontbank.

The complete list of contracts let by the Heritors of the Parish of Polmont for the building of the new church was as follows (all May, 1844, except as otherwise stated):
For Carpentry / Joinerwork - James McLaren, Grangemouth
Plumber-work - Brodie & Hume, Edinburgh
Plaster-work ( Aug.) - Jas. Tait, Edinburgh
Glazing - Jas. McLaren
Slater-work - Hugh Leishman, Grangemouth
Painter-work ( Aug.) - John Breck, Edinburgh
(+ Boiler - installation, Nov) Wm Thorburn, Polmont Mr Thorburn did not have his problems to seek in installing the central heating boiler. On 26 December, 1845, he invoiced the Heritors "to taking down and rebuilding heating boiler for third time", and had to re-do the same work again twice in the course of 1846.

The final accounts for the whole project, including all external work and all incidentals, revealed the payments as:

Wm. Thorburn, Mason	£1,024 - 8s - 4d
Jas. McLaren, Wright	£947 - 19 - 5
Slater	£56 - 0 - 2
Plasterer	£68 - 0 - 3
Painter	£20 - 0 - 3
Plumber	£34 - 0 - 10
Heating "Apparatus	£52 - 10 - 6
Iron Gates	£13 - 15 - 0
Upholsterer	£16 - 16 - 10
Miss Kincaid (incl. interest on capital)	£158 - 10 - 4
Inspn. of old church - Architect, Mr Smith	£12 - 12 - 0
Architect, for plans	£65 - 0 - 0
Architect, as Superintendent of works	£30 - 0 - 0
Mr Girdwood, as clerk	£30 - 0 - 0
Other Sundries	£51 - 14 - 1
GRAND TOTAL	£2,581 - 7s - 8d

Identification of the exact date when all the work on the new church was finished proved difficult to find, there being no formal note of it in the minutes of the Heritors' meetings; nor in the minutes of the Kirk Session, who carried on serenely with their work of moral supervision and correction. Whether one is re-building and extending the church hall in 1994 or building an entirely new church in 1845, however, expectations seem always to run ahead of performance. At the meeting of Linlithgow Presbytery held on 17 June, 1845, the Rev. Mr Ker felt confident enough to pronounce on the completion of the works:
"Mr Ker stated to the presbytery that the new church of Polmont was finished, and that it is, in every respect, a most commodious and comfortable structure."

Clearly the new church was not in fact finished, for it is not until Friday, 25 July, 1845, that we find the following reference in the "Stirling Journal & Advertiser" again:
"POLMONT. On the Sabbath 20th inst. this new parish church, the foundation stone of which was laid on 10th May last year by Vice-Admiral Sir Thos. Livingstone, Bart., of West Quarter, one of the Heritors, was opened for divine worship; in the forenoon by the parish minister the Rev. John Ker, who preached from Psalm LX III , 1 and 2; and in the afternoon by the very Rev. Principal Lee who had for his text Haggai 1, 8, during both of which services the discourses, eloquently and impressively delivered, were listened to by a large and attentive audience. The church is spacious and commodious, and seated for upwards of 1,000; from the crowded appearance of the congregation and the numbers standing, there could not have been fewer than 1,200 present. Constructed on the most approved principles and possessed of every comfort, it will be gladly resorted to by this large congregation to whom it is a great boon and who are much attached to their respected minister."

Thus the new Parish Church of Polmont was formally opened for divine worship. As if to say an official farewell to the old after ushering-in the new, the Heritors agreed on 2 August, 1845, to advertise for sale the unwanted materials of the old church. As a footnote to this particular episode in the life of Polmont church, we have noted that the Heritors held two extraordinary meetings, on 1 and 23 June, 1845. Their purpose was to agree the division of the pews in the much larger building, i.e. the priorities for choosing seats. The basis on which priorities were determined was, in crude terms, that the bigger the landowning, the greater the priority of the heritor. However, the representative of the Marquis of Zetland (landowner in the lower part of the parish) was unable to agree a division acceptable to his master and also to the other Heritors, in particular the representative of the Duke of Hamilton (landowner of Redding). And so the meeting was obliged to refer the matter to the sheriff at Stirling, to have the division decided by a process of law. Which took another five months and was, inevitably, costly.

Conclusion
Over the few pages of this brief account, we have attempted to trace the story of Polmont Parish from its inception - indeed before it - through the building of the original Kirk, and the times that followed it, up to the decade of the 1840's when the fine, new church, beautiful in its dignified simplicity, was conceived, designed and built by the people of means and corresponding responsibilities in the parish. But when we set out on this brief account, we posed certain questions; and it is in answering them - in reverse order - that it is proposed to draw our brief history to a close.

First, it is hoped that the information and commentary given about Polmont Parish will have helped the reader to gain a somewhat better feel for the way life was when the old church was eventually replaced. Life was undoubtedly simpler; people were obviously content with far fewer material goods and comforts than is the case now; life was also much shorter for most, and drugs and palliatives to relieve suffering were outwith their reach; working-folk had to know their place, and, for the most part, stay in it; conversely, there would doubtless be some among the 'haves' who would lord it over the 'have nots', and there was little human dignity in such an arrangement. And yet perhaps we should ask ourselves whether the sum of human happiness is any greater to-day, with all its complexities, divisions, vandalism and disrespect? For there was a settled order and, apparently, contentment in the days before money in the pocket or in the bank swept away the system of landowning Heritors on which the Church of Scotland and its parish network of churches and schools was founded. In short, is not the question whether personal affluence has been bought at the terrible price of losing Christian faith and values.

Second, the people who built and paid for this fine new church were, as we have seen, the same types as created Polmont Parish, church and school in the 1730's, namely the landowners. Nobody else. Their formal records indicate that they were for the most part men who would require ocular proof of need before they would part with money; and there were a few backsliders when it came to paying dues and arrears (or "bygones" as the minutes quaintly put it); and yet pay they did. The congregation had no need to concern themselves about where the money was to come from, and the Heritors stumped up the modern equivalent of £750,000 for the new church; and that was a great deal of money, even for those who had a great deal. The efforts of the Heritors should therefore be regarded to-day with much respect and admiration, for what they did speaks more of commitment, dedication, and trust in God than of any worldly reason.

The new church of Polmont was built because, quite simply, the old one was falling down, was too small, and did not meet the needs of either parish or congregation. The Heritors had a duty to put matters right, and they did so, and much more.

What was so special about this whole event was that, at a turning-point in history of the Church of Scotland, after a third of all its congregations had left the Kirk to worship in their own way elsewhere, the Heritors of Polmont Parish chose to meet their obligations to the Parish and, at enormous expense, to reaffirm their faith in God, their hope of salvation through Jesus Christ, and their trust in the power of the Holy Spirit, by building a great new temple in which all who wished might worship in the centuries to come.

Dear reader, we hope that you have found even a little interest and enjoyment in this brief account of Polmont Old Parish Church, from its inception up to the building of the Kirk in which its congregation still worships to-day. We further hope that the story that we have tried to tell will encourage you to help the congregation worship more fully and with stronger faith. By your presence and assistance we can ensure that the people of Polmont can, and will, worship Almighty God in another 150 years.