DENNISTOUN
CENTRAL CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
9, Armadale Street, Dennistoun
Ladywell & Wellpark Chapel of
Ease was built in 1838 on a site provided by Hugh Tennent of Wellpark, a member
of the famous brewing family. Like
so many other Established congregations, it split at the Disruption, with the
new Free element later having to give up the building.
With the continuing support of Tennent, a replacement was built in Duke
Street in 1848, which was known as Wellpark Free Church.
Once firmly established, this new Free congregations undertook missionary work in the east end of the developing new suburb of Dennistoun. At first, a base was secured in what was to become known as Porch Hall in Millerston Street, but what then was East Miller Street. Services were eventually moved to a rented school room in 1872 and then to a leaky roofed wooden hut in Whitehill Gardens. Finally the newly formed congregation secured the services of James Salmon & Son and to build themselves a sanctuary in Armadale Street in 1874.
Dennistoun Free Church was built in
an Early English Gothic style and sat almost
back to back with what was then Dennistoun
United Presbyterian Church in Whitehill Street – now Dennistoun Blackfriars
Church of Scotland – matching the tower with one of its own, but with a
surmounting spire reaching 150 feet. Above
its main entrance in the eastern gable were three lancet windows with stained
glass. It became Rutherford United
Free Church in 1900 and then a Church of Scotland charge in 1929. In 1975 it was joined by two other congregations to form
Dennistoun Central, the title it currently bears.
These two joining congregations of 1975 were those from Bluevale & Whitevale Church and from Trinity Duke Street Church. The former was itself a composite of Bluevale and Whitevale churches. Bluevale had originated as an Established Church Chapel of Ease to the Barony Parish in 1872 through the efforts of Norman McLeod, while Whitevale’s history was rooted in an independent congregation in the tradition of the Relief Church.
Trinity Duke Street started as a
United Presbyterian congregation but as part of the National Church was joined
by Wellpark in 1949. Thus,
Dennistoun Central’s progenitor eventually found a home with its offspring.
With them, the Trinity Duke Street congregation brought the organ which
still dominates Dennistoun Central’s chancel.
Although both Bluevale and Whitevale church building have long since been
demolished, Trinity Duke Street has undergone a renaissance as part of the
Wellpark Enterprise Centre.
Since 1983 Dennistoun Central has
played host to the Scottish Episcopal congregation of St. Kentigern’s, which
occupies a small chapel to the north of the chancel.
This accommodation was made available with the full consent of the
Presbytery of Glasgow and the Kirk Session of the church.
Most recently, in 2003, the church’s minister, the Reverend Adah
Younger, has found a place in the history of the Glasgow Presbytery by becoming
the first woman to be appointed to the position of Moderator.
© 2005 Gordon Adams
GALLERY:
Commemorative
bronze "Burning Bush"
Stained
glass window.