by Robin Thompson | 3 Jan 2020 | Articles
by Dr Jean Barclay When it came to a winter festival, Handsel (or Hansel) Monday at the start of the year meant a great deal to generations of Scots. It was a time of rejoicing with visits to family, friends and neighbours, food and drink in plenty, and giving...
by Robin Thompson | 29 Jan 2019 | Articles
Tales from the Kirk Session The Affair of the Holes in the Floor By Elaine Campbell The Ordination of Elders By J M Lorimer RSA From ‘The Kirk and its Worthies’ By Nicholas Dickson In the 17th and 18th century the Kirk was a very important institution in...
by Robin Thompson | 10 Dec 2018 | Articles
Tales from the Kirk Session The Kirk that Stole Christmas by Dr. Jean Barclay The Presbyterian Church of Scotland did not like Christmas and ensured that it was not celebrated in Scotland for some 400 years. The old winter festival of Yule had lasted 12 days and,...
by Robin Thompson | 7 Sep 2018 | Articles
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...
by Robin Thompson | 10 Dec 2017 | Articles
Rev. RALPH ERSKINE (1685-1752) – SECESSIONIST MINISTER” By George Robertson Faith, without trouble or fighting, is a suspicious faith: For true faith is a fighting, wrestling faith. Ralph Erskine, 1733. There are two statues in Dunfermline which commemorate...
