Tales from the Kirk Session by Dr. Jean Barclay The Elder at the Plate by H C Preston In the early 1720s the Dunfermline kirk session consisted of the two ministers and 25 elders who were subject each year to ‘privy censure’ to ensure they were ‘circumspect in their walk and conversation’. The elders were responsible for taking the collection on Sundays, accepting or giving testimonials of good behaviour from people coming or going, relief of the poor and Sabbath visiting. This last to ensure that no-one was drinking or carrying out household tasks or other activities when they should have been at church. The ‘elders at the plate’ were regarded with some awe but in 1726 two of them, Robert Couston and Robert Ferguson, fell from grace. With Robert Couston it was drink. On November 20th 1726 it was reported to the kirk session that Robert Couston, one of their number, was scandalously drunk at Wednesday’s market. When Robert was questioned he acknowledged that he had been somewhat mistaken with drink that day but denied reports that he had also been fighting and rankling (wrangling). On December 7th several elders reported that they had heard that on market day after daylight was gone, Robert had been in a public change house (inn) in the town and that he was not only mistaken with drink but was offensively kissing both men and women. Robert admitted that he ‘kisst a young woman who might become his good-daughter’ (daughter in law) and that he also ‘kisst William…
Adam Westwood, Dunfermline artist (1844–1924)
Adam Westwood was a local painter who has left us some beautiful images of Dunfermline in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. In “Adam Westwood, Dunfermline artist (1844–1924)” Jean Barclay gives us a concise summary of his life and work illustrated with some rarely-seen examples of his work.
The Tale of the Holes in the Floor
In the latest in our series Tales from the Kirk Session, Elaine Campbell tells the story of a case of “flagrant and scandalous behaviour” from 1752 where the witnesses were able to testify based on having had a very clear view of the events. Read more in “The Affair of the Holes in the Floor“.
Christmas Banned!
In the next in our “Tales from the Kirk Session” series, Jean Barclay describes the very slow re-emergence of Christmas after the Reformation. “The Kirk that Stole Christmas” describes these changes, from the attempted abolition of the holiday by the Kirk in the sixteenth century, right up to the establishment of the Public Holiday in 1958.
James and Charles Stewart, Builders
In a further article in our series on Dunfermline’s Industrial Past, George Beattie writes in “James Stewart and Sons, Builders and Quarrymen” about a highly successful late Victorian stone-mason and businessman. Along with the company he founded, he was responsible for the construction of many of the town’s churches, schools, factories and banks including The Central Baths, St Margaret’s RC Church and, under his son Charles, the War Memorials and the steps at the Abbey West door. The firm continued until 1961, by which time demand for high quality new building in stone had disappeared.