Greenock Burghers

Greenock has a very complicated church history.  Tracing the origins of congregations can be difficult because of all the splits, fall-outs and changes of buildings and names that have taken place over the years.  One of the big splits within the church in Scotland took place in 1733.

Ebenezer Erskine - founder of the Secession Church

In 1733 the first Seceders, those who were dissatisfied with the Church of Scotland and against ministers being presented to congregations by a patron, formed an Associate Presbytery.  Members tended to be known by their “strictness in manners and doctrine”.  Many were descendants of Covenanters.  Locally, it all started in Kilmacolm in 1737.  William Clark who owned the land of Killochries held meetings in his barn for those who were dissatisfied with the local minister, John Fleming, who had been appointed to the parish by most of the local landowners despite some opposition from parishioners.  This small group were later joined by others from Port Glasgow and Greenock.  Many of these had left their own churches because their ministers had read “The Porteous Act” from the pulpit.  In July 1738 they were formally constituted as part of the Associate Presbytery as the “sixteenth congregation”.

They were too small a gathering to be able to afford a minister of their own, but occasionally a seceding minister would attend, including Ebenezer Erskine (1680-1754), the founder of the Secession Church.  A year later, their number increased as folks from Kilbarchan who were also dissatisfied with their minister joined them.  Unfortunately, this was not a happy union.  However eventually when they could afford it, a meeting house was built at Burntsheilds (nearer Kilbarchan) in 1745.  In 1747 the Seceders split into Burghers and Anti-Burghers over an oath known as the burgess oath which had to be taken by all clergy in Scotland.  This particular congregation were Burghers.

Eventually those members from Greenock grew in number and formed their own congregation and built a church at Cartsdyke (Stanners Street) although at first they were still connected to the Burntsheilds church.  The first minister of the joint congregations was John McAra. 

In 1752 the Cartsdyke congregation separated from Burntshields church and appointed their own minister, Daniel Cock.  In 1769 he was sent to Nova Scotia at the request of congregations there for ministers.  In 1771 he became minister at Truro, Nova Scotia, becoming one of the founders of the presbyterian church in Canada.  He seems to have been a popular preacher and settled in the locality with his wife, Alison Jamison and family.   He died there in 1805 aged 88. 

Photo source - William Fischer Jr Historical Marker Database

A plaque in his memory can be found at Truro which reads: -  

“This plaque commemorates the centennial of the formation of the Presbyterian Church in Canada in 1875; The ministry of the Rev. Daniel Cock (1771-1805) of Greenock, Scotland, and the Rev. David Smith (1771-1795) of St. Andrew's, Scotland. 
The erection of the first two Presbyterian churches in Canada, at Glenholm in 1771, and in Truro in 1772. The formation in Truro of the first Presbytery in Canada in 1786, and the first Bible Society in British North America.
This plaque is placed here through the cooperation of the Province of Nova Scotia, the Town of Truro, the Synod of the Atlantic Provinces of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and the Kirk Session of St. James Presbyterian Church, Truro.”

Back at Cartsdyke, their next minister was William Richardson who was ordained there in 1773 and died in 1780.  In 1782 a gravestone was found turned upside down in a path leading to the church.  It read:-  "In memory of the Rev William Richardson who was ordained minister of this church in March 1773.  Died March 1780 and was interred here at his own request."

In 1780 William Willis from Linlithgow succeeded Richardson as minister at Cartsdyke.  In 1799 the congregation separated from the Associate Synod and along with other churches formed the Original Associate Synod (Auld Lichts) who were more Calvinistic in thought than the more liberal New Lichts.  In 1802 Willis moved to Stirling and died in 1827.  William Willis was described as a “champion of the New Lichts” and was the author of many pamphlets in support of the split.  He was married to Janet Jamieson.  Their daughter Janet Jamieson Willis married Rev Robert McIndoe.  Rev Willis' son, Dr Michael Willis became Principal of Knox College in Toronto, Canada.  William Willis died in 1845 aged 83 at Galston.

The next minister was George Moscrip who was born in Jedburgh in 1763.  He was ordained to Greenock in 1802 and died in 1838 aged 75.  He was buried in Inverkip Street Cemetery.  During his time at Cartsdyke, the original church was rebuilt in 1828 with an attached schoolroom.  George Moscrip married Janet Wilson in 1803 she died in 1840.  His son, Clement Moscrip (1804-1848) was ordained in Bathgate in 1829 (died 1848) and was minister at Pollockshaws.  Son Andrew Moscrip died in 1871 (63) at Herrickville, Bradford County, Pennsylvania.  

George Moscrip memorial stone Inverkip Street Cemetery

James Stark came to Greenock in 1834 to work alongside George Moscrip.   In 1834 James Stark married Eliza Aitken (daughter of Robert Aitken of Chapleton, New Kilpatrick) and had a large family.  He retired in 1872 and died at Barrwood, Ashton, Gourock in 1890.

Photo source - Greenock Burns Club

The Cartsdyke congregation joined the Established Church of Scotland in 1839 but in 1843 at a schism known as the Disruption, they became part of the Free Church which broke away from the Established Church of Scotland.  In 1854 the church building, schoolroom and manse at Cartsdyke were sold to the Caledonian Railway Company and the congregation moved to their new church, Wellpark Free Church, on Lynedoch Street facing the Wellpark.  In 1855 the Cartsdyke building reopened as St Laurence Roman Catholic Church.

Wellpark Free Church, Lynedoch Street, Greenock

After all those splits, name and venue changes, the congregation found themselves part of Greenock's Free Church community.  Their story continues!

Bank Street, Greenock - Town Trail 3

Greenock Town Trail, Plaque 3, Bank Street, Greenock.  Download a leaflet from Discover Inverclyde.

As may be guessed from the name, Bank Street once housed a local bank - The Renfrewshire Bank.  The original bank building can still be seen on the eastern side of the street.  The Renfrewshire Bank, was set up in 1802 by a group of local merchants.  Unfortunately it failed in 1842 causing deep distress in the town.

Former Renfrewshire Bank building, Bank Street

Steps up from Bank Street lead to the Wellpark.  Once part of the grounds of the Mansion House of the Shaw family, it still retain an old well dating from 1629.  The park also contains Greenock's magnificent war memorial.

Mansion House well, Wellpark, Greenock

On the west side of Bank Street, behind the Wellpark Mid Kirk, once stood the old Greenock Gaol or as it was also known, the Bridewell.  The building was demolished to make way for the railway line to Gourock.

Picture courtesy of Greenock Burns Club

At the lower end of the street is a sculpture entitled "Hands of the Fallen" by Angela Hunter.  It is a reference to those locals who were killed or wounded in a riot in Greenock in 1820.

Hands of the Fallen sculpture, Bank Street

Leading off from Cathcart Square, Bank Street is worth having a look at.  Read more about Bank Street on this Blog -

The Failure of the Renfrewshire Bank

The Mansion House Well

Greenock Gaol

The Greenock Riot

The Mansion House Well

This is probably one of the oldest structures in Greenock.  It is the old Mansion House Well and now is located in the (appropriately named) Well Park in Regent Street, Greenock.

There's a date of 1629 on the well along with the initials HH.  It is thought that this may commemorate the marriage of the local laird, John Shaw (1597-1679) with Helen Houston.  On the other side of the well are the initials IS - probably for John Shaw.  There are flat plaques on the other sides of the well, but they are too eroded to make out what they once contained, but perhaps were the arms of the Shaw and Houston families.  

The well is beautifully constructed with four stone pillars with a pyramidal shaped covering and it is thought that there once would have been a stone ball at the apex.  The well once stood in the grounds of the Mansion House which was home of the Shaw family.  After uniting through marriage with the Stewarts in the 1750s, the family chose to live at Ardgowan.  The mansion house became the estate office and parts of it were rented out.  In the 1850s Sir Michael Shaw Stewart gifted the garden land to be used as a park by the people of Greenock.  The house was demolished in 1886 to make way for the extension of the railway line to Gourock by the Caledonian Railway. 

John Shaw (Elder) (Wester Greenock and Finnart) succeeded to the estate after his father, James Shaw's death in 1620.  His mother was Margaret Montgomerie.  John Shaw and his wife Helen Houston had a son, Sir John Shaw who married Jean Mure and a daughter Margaret Shaw who married Alexander Stewart, 4th Lord Blantyre.

During his time as laird, in 1635 in the reign of Charles I, John Shaw (sometimes written Schaw) was granted a Charter under the Great Seal which meant that Greenock became a Burgh of Barony.  It granted the right to hold a weekly market and two fairs annually.  Greenock still has a holiday in July known as "The Fair" and used to have a winter fair in November.  The Charter also conferred the right to elect a number of inhabitants to run the town and keep order.  The Charter was ratified by Parliament in 1641 and was an important part of Greenock's history and development.  John Shaw (Elder) was described by George Williamson as "a man of high culture and taste" (Old Greenock, 1888).  

Mansion House, Greenock

While the mansion house may have gone, at least we still have this little well to remind us of a part of Greenock's early history.