A Short History of Barnhill St Margaret’s Parish Church 1884-2020

By Graham Wightman

A short history of Barnhill St Margaret's Church from 1884 to 2020. This booklet expands on the history recounted in the Centenary booklet of 1984, with additional information that is now available from a variety of sources. The booklet is illustrated with a number of photographs of the building and contents.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781716412066

Book preview

A Short History of Barnhill St Margaret’s Parish Church

1884-2020

Graham Wightman

Copyright

Copyright 2020 by G. Wightman, all rights reserved.

First Published: 2020

ISBN 978-1-716-41206-6

Introduction

Pulpit fall with the burning bush

In the bible when God met with Moses at the burning bush (and you’ll notice from several photos in this book that the burning bush is the symbol of the Church of Scotland), God called Himself Jehovah, a name which means I am. The angel speaking to Mary told her that Jesus would also be described as Emmanuel, a name that means God with us. God recognises that we are creatures of time and that it is in the present moment that we can encounter God. We have to live in the present, but we also look back at the past and use it to help us as we plan for the future.

At Barnhill there was no church building as the last quarter of the 19th century began. Victoria ruled over an expanding Empire and jute had brought wealthy inhabitants to a small fishing village just outside of Dundee. At that time there were few inhabitants eastwards in Barnhill and no need for a church, but a small congregation was started as a daughter church of Monifieth. But there was a vision for the future, and within 10 years work had started on a permanent structure to replace the second-hand Tin Kirk. It took another 13 years before this ‘daughter’ was considered mature enough at the age of 23 to become a parish in its own right.

A century ago when St Margaret’s became a parish church no-one would have foreseen nearly 3000 homes in the parish. The idea of everyone owning a horse, let alone a motor car would seem as alien then as colonies on the moon do to us today. And as for talking with friends in other parts of the world, or pressing a few buttons to access libraries of information, these were beyond imagining. Yet these people had a vision that was probably beyond most people’s dreams, and they planned a large and beautiful church that would last and meet the needs of future generations trying to express their worship of God.

We have benefitted from their foresight in so many ways, and our responsibility in our generation is to also try to have a vision for the future. Replacing our hall in 2008/9 was part of that vision. We tried to produce a building that honours God, and that will serve the community for future generations.

In 2020 we should have celebrated 125 years in our present building. However, the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 meant we were not allowed to meet together, and reminded us that the church is more than the building. We had to find new ways of being the family of God, and this included: recording services with neighbouring churches, and on-line meetings. Helpful though these electronic versions were we all looked forward to being able to meet together again in our church and hall.

As we look back at our shared history we can therefore be encouraged by the faith and vision of our predecessors, and be challenged to take risks as we try to share God’s love with those around us in our generation.

Sketch of the church from the Centenary book

The stone church today

History of Christian worship around Barnhill

Gate and entrance to the church

This parish was formerly a part of the Parish of Monifieth, a parish with very ancient Culdee origins and dedicated to St Regulus, or St Rule. ‘The Parishes of Mediaeval Scotland’ records that Dundee was granted to Lindores Abbey by David, Earl of Huntingdon in 1191, and Monifieth was granted to Arbroath Abbey by Gilchrist Earl of Angus in 1201. Broughty Ferry did not merit being a separate parish until the 19th century. Before the Reformation (usually taken as 1560 when The Scottish Reformation Parliament approved a Protestant confession of faith) there were subsidiary chapels for the service of the parishioners and St Rule’s was the `mother church` for several daughter chapels: Eglismonichty, Lady Bank, Chapel Dockie, Kingennie, and either Barnhill or Broughty Ferry.

Eglismonichty (or Eglismonchtistrathdichty) means the ‘Church of the holy place by the Dichty’ and was dedicated to St Andrew. The centenary book on our church records this to the north on the banks of the Dichty, but Canmore and the Ordnance Survey place it South East, near Bell Tree Crescent. The Lady Tree (also called the Bell