NOTEBOOK by BILL HEANEY
Dumbarton’s West Kirk is set to be sold as the congregation merges with St Andrew’s and Riverside Church of Scotland to form a new Dumbarton Parish Church within Riverside which was once Dumbarton Old Parish Church.
The West Kirk in West Bridgend, which has been known variously as Bridgend Parish Church, West Bridgend Parish Church and the the West Kirk, served both the most deprived and the wealthiest parts of Dumbarton – Dennystown and Kirktonhill.
Dalreoch Parish Church, which served Oxhill, Castlehill and Brucehill, disappeared in a previous union of the West End churches and the congregation split between the West Kirk and a new church which was built in Castlehill, opposite Westcliff.
Dennystown was built to house working class shipyard workers, many of them immigrants from both the North of Ireland, where Harland and Wolff built the and the Republic of Ireland, and Kirktonhill was where the directors of the shipyard and other wealthy Dumbartonians lived.
The shipyard owned by William Denny and Sons was situated at the confluence of the rivers Leven and Clyde at the foot of Dumbarton Castle and could be viewed from Kirktonhill along with the rolling lawns of Levengrove Park from Kirktonhill.
The view from Dennystown was of a glassworks across the river at Artizan and a glueworks in Bowie Street, where the West Bridgend high flats now stand.
Church of Scotland congregations have been gathering at the West Kirk since the 1700s, but dwindling attendance and forced mergers mean it will now have to be sold.
It was the local church for the old Keil School in Kirktonhill and the boarders there were a familiar sight in West Bridgend on a Sunday morning walking to church in their green and gold uniform blazers which they wore with kilts.
One noteworthy member of the congregation last century was Mrs ‘Nanny’ Willox after whom the Willox Park care home complex was named, and who was known in the community as Dumbarton’s Lady Bountiful because of the good works she did encouraging education amongst young people.
Mrs Willox, who lived at Leabank on Cardross Road overlooking the River Clyde, was a familiar figure at prizegivings in local schools and was the patron of many community events on high days and holidays.
It is likely that the church and other buildings attached to it will be demolished and the money raised by the sale will be reinvested within the Dumbarton community.
Mrs Willox, the Very Rev David Steel and his son, David, who became leader of the Liberal Party and later again a member of the House of Lords, and a front page story in the Lennox Herald.
Its best known minister was the the Rev David Steel, one time Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, father of the Liberal politician David Steel who became a Member of the UK parliament.
His son, David Steel, became leader of the LIberal Party and later took office as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament in 1969. He was brought up in Scotland and Kenya, and educated at Dumbarton Academy.
Probably the best known ministers at Riverside were the Very Rev Sir John Cairns, who lived in Kirktonhill and became a high profile Moderator of the Church of Scotland and the kenspeckle Rev William Campbell, who also walked to church and was a familiar sight dressed in a frock coat and top hat in Church Street on a Sunday morning. The current minister is the Rev Mark Boshoff.
“Until the timescale for this has been decided it will remain in use for some activities, including one monthly church service.
“We were delighted to welcome those who live locally and beyond to the last nearly new sale to take place at West Kirk.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have served the church faithfully by running the event each year, as well as all those who have attended it. This year the proceeds will go to local charities.”