by Robin Thompson | 27 Mar 2019 | Articles, Kirk Session
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...
by Robin Thompson | 29 Jan 2019 | Articles, Kirk Session
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...
by Robin Thompson | 10 Dec 2018 | Articles, Kirk Session
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 Robin Thompson | 24 Oct 2018 | Articles, Kirk Session
Tales from the Kirk Session by Dr. Jean Barclay The kirk session of ministers and elders formed the lowest rung of four ecclesiastical courts (above it being the presbytery, synod and general assembly) and was responsible for church affairs and the moral...
by Robin Thompson | 7 Sep 2018 | Articles, Kirk Session
In the first of our new series drawn from the Dunfermline Parish Records, “Tales from the Kirk Session”, Jean Barclay provides us with a detailed insight into how people lived in Dunfermline in the Seventeenth Century, and how the Church sought to stop...
