Kirkpatrick Durham Church

The design of the church is late Georgian Gothic despite its Victorian date. High in the north gable above the big pointed window with Y-traceried mullions

is a circular stone heraldic panel with the coat of arms of William Kennedy Abbot of Crossraguel between 1529 and 1547.Also carved in the panel is the date 1749 that of the previous church on the site. The carving on the stone appears to be two centuries earlier. This is the oldest ecclesiastical relic in the parish.

Before that time the site of the church was at Minnydow prominent on a high field now marked by a small circle of trees enclosed within a dry stone wall It is probable that a church was on this site in the 13^th century..

Before 1949 the interior of the church space was divided up by about one hundred and ten pews all with doors. There were six larger pews in the corners, upholstered in red and containing tables. a plan is displayed in the hall) Seating was allocated by the Kirk session even to the number of inches each member was allowed.

In the Kirk session notes for example of 1850 it states that an additional eighteen inches were allocated to Mrs Dinwoodie of Kirkland. The reason is not enlarged upon.

In 1949 all the pews were removed and replaced by beech chairs all facing north, the pulpit was removed to the north-east corner. The vestry was changed to its present position from the area which is now the kitchen. The communion table stood on the low dais which you see to your left on entering the church..

At the same time a partition allowed a hall to be created and an upper hall was constructed in 1968/69 and is currently used for the Sunday school

On entering the main church if you look up there is a huge plaster rose dating from 1810.(presumably taken from another building)

The current refurbishment of the church was completed in 2002 when the chairs were again renewed for more modern and comfortable ones and replaced back in the original layout. The old pulpit and lectern were removed and replaced by those you see, matching the communion table, skillfully made by local craftsmen

There are only two stained glass windows .The one above the communion table commemorating a well-loved and colourful local doctor John Meggat who died 1896.

Predictably it depicts St. Luke, the beloved physician and St. Patrick (rather surprisingly dressed as a bishop given the very strong church links to the covenanting movement) who is holding a shamrock.

The other window to the right is in memory of the landowner John Fergusson of Kilquhanity (also designed by Walter Newall) who died in 1886, it represents the sower and reaper. The Fergusson box pew was sited in that corner.

Exhibition.

Church Photograph by Margaret Elliott

Neilsone memorial /McLellan tomb Photograph by Sally Baijl