The Places of Worship in Scotland Project

Sponsored by the Church of Scotland (Scottish Church Heritage Research Ltd - SCHR) and Historic Scotland, The Places of Worship in Scotland project has been established to “promote the recording of church sites and buildings of all places of worship in Scotland, for the benefit of everyone interested in understanding and protecting this rich heritage of the people of Scotland”.

SCHR has set up The Places of Worship project to complete an online resource of places in Scotland. The website (www.scottishchurches.org.uk) includes limited details of some 10,500 sites and full information of others, for example Fettercairn Parish Church.

UPDATE: Iain Whyte: "Send back the money - a Scottish slavery issue": Friday 27th March 2015

Due to snow, Iain Whyte's talk planned for Friday 16th January 2015 had to be cancelled at short notice. The Society is pleased to announce that it has been re-scheduled for Friday 27th March 2015 at 7.30 pm.

The talk will deal with a problem that occurred after the Disruption of 1843 when nearly 500 ministers left the Church of Scotland, taking many members of their congregations with them, to form the Free Church. In order to build churches for the new Free congregations funding was sought from a range of sympathetic sources. The problem arose when it was accepted from Presbyterian churches in slave-holding communities in America. Needless to say, this was extremely controversial. The Reverend Dr Iain Whyte is a retired Church of Scotland minister who has published three books on attitudes to black slavery in Scotland.

Local History Week 2015

This year’s East Dunbartonshire Local History Week will be held from Saturday 7th March until Saturday 14th March. As usual the Antiquaries will contribute their own event. This will be a talk on ‘Rita – the Muse: the Origins of Japanese Whisky’ by Peter McCormack and Janice Miller of East Dunbartonshire Leisure & Culture, at the Barony Chambers (adjacent to the Auld Kirk Museum) at 2.30pm on Wednesday 11th March. It will tell the romantic story of how Kirkintilloch woman Rita Cowan became involved in the export of a staple Scottish industry to Japan. A good attendance is expected and seating is limited, so members are advised to come early.

Rita Taketsuru (Cowan)

The majority of the Local History Week events are organised by EDLC, but like the Antiquaries several East Dunbartonshire local history groups are organising their own events. The Friends of Thomas Muir will have an exhibition of John Kay etchings ‘The Times of Thomas Muir’ at the Huntershill Village Coffee Shop, with a relevant talk at 7.00pm on Thursday 12th March (7.00pm). At Milngavie Heritage Centre (Milngavie Town Hall) there will be historical exhibition about villages adjacent to Milngavie, ‘Milngavie’s Neighbours’ (10th-14th March 10.00am-5.00pm). Villages covered will include Balmore, Bardowie, Baldernock aend Mugdock.

Paul Bishop: "Water mills of Milngavie and Baldernock": Friday 13th March 2015

When Paul Bishop moved to Scotland from Australia in 1998, he and his wife bought The Mill House in Baldernock, the small rural parish between Milngavie and Torrance. Since then, he has been researching the history of the Mill and of others in Baldernock and Milngavie using old maps, archives and analysis of the sediments in the Baldernock Mill dam. These mills embody features that make Scottish mills distinctive from those in England. Baldernock Mill is a particularly good example of a small Scottish rural mill, with its varied history as corn mill, saw mill, and rural dwelling. A minor disaster there even rated a mention in the Kirkintilloch Herald in 1932. This talk features images of parts of Baldernock mill that have been rarely seen and now will never been seen again as the mill is currently being completely re-developed as a 21st century dwelling.

Baldernock Mill (© Copyright Chris Upson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence)