Dumbarton West Kirk

Image: © Lairich Rig Taken: 14 Jan 2013

For another contributor's earlier picture, see Image The first church on this site was built in 1794, when land was feued for the building of a Relief Church and a manse, and for a place of burial. The document granting the feu is dated 6th February 1794, and the construction of the church was completed in that year. The congregation was made up of those who had seceded from the established church in Cardross Parish. They were soon joined by like-minded people from the Burgh of Dumbarton (this area, West Bridgend, was not part of the Burgh of Dumbarton until 1857). The original 1794 church building no longer exists; it was replaced, twice. The first of those replacement buildings came about after it was decided, in 1859, that a new church should be built; the old building was by then showing signs of deterioration. That second church opened at the end of 1860; the building survives to this day, but it is now used as church halls. In the present photograph, it is the building that is just out of shot to the left, shown separately in Image and Image The second replacement building is the one shown in the present photograph; the architect was John McLeod (presumably Dumbarton's town architect of that name – Image). The foundation stone was laid in 1886; construction began in that year, and the church opened in 1888. The building is dated 1887 above its entrance: Image The stone used to build it was taken from nearby Image In the meantime, a separate Dalreoch parish church (1873) had been built not far from here (Image); like the third church (just described) at West Bridgend, Dalreoch Church was designed by John McLeod. In recent times, some Church of Scotland congregations were merged; the West Bridgend and Dalreoch congregations were combined, and they would meet at the church here at West Bridgend, which came to be called the West Kirk. The Dalreoch church building was later demolished. Of the original graveyard, which was still present in 1969, very few memorials now remain; the original burial site has been cleared away – a pity: Image A mere two memorials remain, located just south of the church hall: the MacAuslan memorial (Image) and the Buchanan memorial (Image). Aside from those two, there is a war memorial (Image) in the form of a Celtic cross; it was brought here from Dalreoch Church before the latter was demolished. The war memorial for the (pre-merger) West Bridgend congregation itself is made of bronze, and is located within the West Kirk.

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