Westburn Church

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Westburn Church from the north-west

The Westburn Church , formerly West Kirk , Old Kirk and St Luke's Church , is a church building of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland in the Scottish town of Greenock in Inverclyde . In 1971 the building was included in the Scottish List of Monuments in the highest category A. The rather simple building is located west of the city center. The church is still in use as such.

history

The Scottish King James VI. ordered the building of a Reformed Church in Greenock in 1589. Previously, the Greenock Protestant community was likely to have relied on a church in Inverkip , seven kilometers away . The building was completed in 1591 and the first service was held in October of that year. The building was steadily expanded in the following centuries. In order to take account of the increasing number of inhabitants, the Parish Greenock was divided several times, with a separate parish church being built in each Parish. In the 1830s the parish church proved too small for the growing community. As a result, a new church was commissioned. An area with high poverty was chosen as the location, because the community felt particularly close to the poor. The construction work was carried out according to a design by the architect David Cousin and completed in 1841. The church was named West Kirk after its parish . The previous building from the 16th century was abandoned (in 1864 the church was largely rebuilt and became the parish church of North Parish ).

In 1855 the bell tower was added; the tower clock is a donation from the following year. A fire in 1912 destroyed the interior, which was replaced along with the leaded glass windows . The building now offered space for 1144 people. After the Second World War , numerous parishes were amalgamated in several stages. In 1966, the West Kirk merged with the local Gaelic-speaking community, resulting in the Old Kirk , which continued to use the building of the former West Kirk. The Old Kirk again merged with St. Mark's Church in 1987 to form St. Luke's Church and once again remained in their building. Most recently, in 2007, St. Luke's Church merged with St. George's North Church to form Westburn Church.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  2. ↑ Information from the parish
  3. ↑ a b Information from the parish
  4. ↑ a b Information from the Scotland Churches Trust

Web links

Coordinates: 55 ° 56'56 "  N , 4 ° 45'59.7"  W.