Kirkmahoe Parish church

Kirkmahoe is a parish in Dumfries and Galloway with a population of around 2,800. The parish covers part of the urban village of Locharbriggs together with the rural villages of Dalswinton, Duncow and Kirkton where the Grade-B Parish Church is situated.

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The population of the parish is shown in the Church of Scotland Statistics for Mission as being made up of 25% pre-school/school and students, 50% young and mature adults and 25% elderly and very elderly people.

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The first church in the area was founded by St Kentigern (also known as Mungo) and there were three “Kils” in the area during the dark ages :- Kilblaan at St Blane’s, Locharbriggs,  Kilfarnock at St Earnen’s, Quarrelwood  and Kilmochoe at St Mungo’s, Kirkton.

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During the feudal times that followed, the one parish church at Kirkmahoe was put under the patronage of the Comyns . Then in 1492 the Stewarts (The Barons at Dalswinton) granted the endowments of Kirkmahoe to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of Glasgow and until the reformation the Rector of Kirkmahoe was usually the younger son of the Dalswinton Family and a residential prebend at Glasgow Cathedral. The Rector would appoint a vicar to serve the parish.

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The Barony of Dalswinton survived the reformation, the Bishopric of Glasgow did not!!

In the 17thcentury the parish was bitterly divided between the Covenanters and the Conformists and the local Quarrelwood Dissenters and their spiritual successors in the Free Church of Scotland remained separated until 1929.

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The current church that stands in Kirkton was commissioned in 1822 by the Laird of Dalswinton and his heirs and was designed by Walter Newall of Dumfries who also stayed on to manage the construction. The work, a very striking sandstone structure, was very impressively completed by June 1823, and Mr Newall was paid the princely sum of twenty guineas for this achievement.

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The building has been renovated three times since it was built, the last occasion being in 1966 when the magnificent East window was put in. This window, the work of the eminent stain glass artist William Wilson, depicts the “Mighty Acts of God”, “The Expulsion from Eden”, “Moses with the Tablets of the Law”, “The Burning Bush” and the “Crossing of the Red Sea” that lead to the fulfilment of the old in the new with “Jesus’ Baptism”, the “Coming of the Holy Spirit”and “the Christ of Kirkmahoe” reigning from the cross.

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We also have the “Carzield” window gifted to the church over a hundred years ago, which is a fine example of the work of W H Lonsdale the well-known 19th century architectural artist. This window displays our Lord with St Peter and St Paul in the top panels and below that shows Peter preaching to Cornelius, the “Presentation in the Temple” and Paul preaching to Agrippa.

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The communion table, lectern and font with their ornate carvings of the Apostles along with ancient symbols of the church, were presented at the same time by the artist Cyril Wilson who was a long serving member of the church as well as being the organist for many years.

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The church bell was designed and produced by T Mears of London and measures 60cm high by 60cm wide and hangs from the wooden beams in the belfry.

Finally the Norwich (transistorised) church organ manufactured by Miller was commissioned in 1965.