Polmont North Parish Church

1844 to 1969

GLEANINGS FROM THE PAST
ALTHOUGH unconnected with purely church activities the following historical notes may be considered worthy of interest: -

1670 - Three villagers were hanged at Millfield, near where the petrol filling station stands, for practising witchcraft.

1680 (circa) - Polmont's only Covenanter martyr, Edward Marshall of Kenmuir, was betrayed at Gardrum Roundel, south of Shieldhill, taken to Falkirk Steeple where he was tried and condemned to death. The execution was carried out at Edinburgh.

1784 - Thomas Walker, who became a distinguished Army surgeon, was born on January 7 at Little Kerse Farm. His formal education was received at Polmont Parish School, and afterwards at Edinburgh High School where he was gold medallist at the age of 13. He was only 21 when he graduated MD at Edinburgh University. Entering the Army he served during the Battle of Copenhagen, and in the Peninsular War. He died at Inveravon on April 24, 1860, and was laid to rest in Polmont Churchyard.

1820 (circa) - The missionary Robert Moffat, who was to become father-in-law to David Livingstone, the famous missionary and explorer, found employment as a gardener's boy on Parkhill Estate. He worshipped at Polmont Church.

1829 - The Heritors of Polmont Parish Church stood armed guard, on a rota basis, on new graves. Body snatching was commonplace at this time because medical students at Edinburgh University didn't inquire about the sources of the corpses they dissected. Various safe keeps and other methods were introduced at the churchyard to forestall this gruesome practice - and at Polmont the Heritors stood armed guard over new graves for seven nights, after which time the corpses could not be used for medical research.

The infamous Burke and Hare, one of whose relatives stayed in "The Castle", now occupied by the Black Bull car park, used Polmont as a resting place before continuing their journey to Edinburgh under cover of darkness. But other body snatchers met their downfall in Polmont. One evening, just as daylight was fading, Mr Scott of Gilston Farm was gathering sheep when he saw two men remove an object from a "midden" at the rear of Parkside Cottages. As he watched the covering fell off, and to his horror, a shrouded corpse was revealed. He ran for his horse, and rode bare-saddle to Linlithgow to alert the townspeople who had the men arrested as they drove their horse-drawn cart into the town. The men were taken to Edinburgh for trial for this and similar offences. The body, which had been removed from Larbert Churchyard, was later re-interred there. Parkside Cottages became known locally as "Resurrection Row".

1835 - The minister's stipend at this time was paid in kind - 17 chalders - a measure of half meal and half barley, plus £8 6s 8d for Communion elements.

1843 - Polmont Horticultural Society was formed.

1843 - The Kirk Session expressed its concern at the niggardly pay received by labourers - 1s 8d to 2s per day. Farm servants, records relate, only received £7-£10 plus board and lodging - for SIX MONTHS' WORK. Coal went up in price to 5s 10d per ton.

1850 - A funeral society was formed into which local families paid a small fee to enable their dead to be buried with respect and dignity. The hearse and hearse house were the property of the society. The house stood at the east end of the Back Row and was demolished comparatively recently to permit the building of Jeffrey Terrace. The hearse horse was hired from the tenant of Bank Farm, at that time one Benjy Mack. The mortuary or "Deid Hoose" as it was known locally, was situated at "The Castle", which itself fell to the demolishers in recent years to make way for the Black Bull car park.

1858 - William Smith, father of Madeleine Smith, who was acquitted in one of Scotland's classic murder trials, came with his family to stay in Polmont. Madeleine, who had been accused of murdering her lover, stepped from the dock a free woman after the jury returned a verdict of "Not proven". But the shock of his daughter's court appearance, with the subsequent scandal, hastened Mr Smith's death and he passed away in 1863 at the age of 56 at Polmont House. His remains were laid to rest in Polmont Churchyard where a gravestone to his memory stands. Madeleine emigrated to the United States where she lived to the ripe old age of 93.

1859 - A Masonic celebration took place in the Black Bull to mark the centenary of the birth of Robert Burns.

1860 - John Wilson of Jink-a-bout Mill, who was a deacon in the Free Church, transferred his membership to Polmont Parish Church because he disapproved of organ music. Unfortunately for him the praise in Polmont Kirk was also accompanied by the organ but he maintained his opposition to music in the Kirk - by clapping his hands.

1890 - Wages were small at this time and John Oliver, a local postman, cobbler, odd-job man and poet, supplemented his income by hiring his services to the minister who paid him 1s for pumping water to the manse kitchen one hour a day six days a week. The pump, which still exists, was in a poor state of repair and, when one day it defied his efforts to work, Jock chalked in disgust on the iron pump case:
"The work is hard
The wage is sma'
Gae pump yersel'
For Jock's awa'."

1899 - The church hall's first cleaner was appointed on the following terms:- "Ordinary sweeping and dusting weekly - 1s; washing floors of hall and rooms, 2s 6d; preparing and arranging hall for concert, social meeting or similar gathering, and washing and cleaning afterwards, 5s." The cleaner had to attend to the paraffin lamps - and to open and close the hall. The wages of the church cleaner were on a par but for the annual fee of £6 she was expected to :- "sweep and dust the vestry and the pews weekly; wash the stairs, lobbies and doorsteps when necessary; beat and shake the pew cushions, matting in passages and door mats; wash the passages three times a year; thoroughly wash out the church once a year." Not surprisingly the proposition was rejected by the cleaner. She wanted 3s per week all the year round. The Session in turn rejected her terms - and appointed another woman to clean the Kirk - on their terms.