Abbeygreen Church is a congregation of the Free Church of Scotland in the small town of Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire. As a Christian congregation, it is presbyterian and reformed; holding the Word of God, the Holy Bible, as the supreme rule of life and doctrine and as a subordinate standard, the Westminster Confession of Faith which helps explain the doctrines of the Christian faith. Being Presbyterian, it serves as part of the Free Church of Scotland Presbytery of Glasgow and Argyll and seeks to faithfully serve God in Lesmahagow and the surrounding area. Having a missional outlook it is involved with a number of missionary organizations including, but not only, UFM Worldwide and Rose of Sharon Ministries, and helps with the organization and support of the Scottish Reformed Conference.
The congregation was formed during the Disruption of 1843. Its foundation stone was laid in August 1843 and the church opened on 15 February 1844. The church building, its manse and grounds are directly west of the Glebe Park on Abbeygreen. The congregation of Abbeygreen was formed out of the Parish Church of Lesmahagow by secession from the Church of Scotland in 1843. Lesmahagow Old Parish Church was built, in its present form, in 1804, at the site of the medieval Lesmahagow Priory.
A summary of the history of Abbeygreen Church The history of Abbeygreen Church begins in 1843 with the Disruption. The Disruption was a secession of ministers and congregations from the Church of Scotland which took place at the 1843 General Assembly because of the Church of Scotland continuing to allow state, or secular, interference in its independent government under the authority of Christ, and Christ alone. At that meeting one hundred and twenty one ministers and seventy three elders, led by Dr. David Welsh, as outgoing Moderator of the Church of Scotland, read a protest to the General Assembly and then left. They assembled themselves as the first General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland at Tanfield Hall in the Canonmills area of Edinburgh on 18 May 1843, with Thomas Chalmers presiding as Moderator.
In all 474 ministers left the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland in 1843. In 1900, a majority of the Free Church joined with the United Presbyterian Church to form the United Free Church of Scotland, with the remainder of the Free Church continuing as the present day Free Church of Scotland. In 1929, a majority of the United Free Church of Scotland joined to the Church of Scotland. The history of Abbeygreen followed these unions and mergers until, in September 2019, Abbeygreen Church (congregation, elders and minister) intimated, to the Presbytery of Lanark, its unanimous decision to leave the Church of Scotland. That process was completed on 26 March 2020 and Abbeygreen then returned to the Free Church on 31 March 2020.
The Church in Lesmahagow prior to the Disruption
Documented history of Christianity in the Lesmahagow area may be traced back to, at least, the 12th century with the establishment of a church dedicated to Saint Machutus or (Saint Malo). The first Prior of Lesmahagow is recorded as Osbert, who became Abbot of Kelso in 1180. The dedication of the priory to Saint Machutus, or Saint Machute as he is referred to locally, remained after the gift of "the Church and lands of Lesmahagow" by King David I of Scotland in 1144 to the Tironensian Order of Benedictine monks who established Kelso Abbey. The remains of Lesmahagow Priory or "Abbey", may still be seen today, adjacent to Lesmahagow Old Parish Church. It is from this "Abbey" that both Abbeygreen, the main road through Lesmahagow, and Abbeygreen Church derive their names.
The Scottish Reformation of 1560 led to the church in the area becoming part of the Church of Scotland. Lesmahagow and the surrounding area were not unaffected by the politico-religious turmoil following the 1603 Union of the Crowns and the events of the 17th century. Particularly in the relationship between church and state. This is testified to today by the many monuments in the local area to Covenanters or men associated with the Covenanters and their sacrifices during the Covenanting period in the 1600s: William Lawrie's Memorial: At the Dovecot in Blackwood Estate. William Lawrie took part in the Pentland Rising of 1666 who, while found guilty of treason on 7 February 1683 and sentenced to be executed, survived until after the Revolution Settlement and was subsequently pardoned. James Gavin's Cairn: James Gavin of Douglas had his ears cut off by John Graham of Claverhouse in 1684 and was banished to Barbados. Auchengilloch Conventicle Memorial: Auchengilloch is a moorland area West of the present-day Kype and Logan reservoirs near Lesmahagow which was used for conventicles. John Brown's Gravestone: John Brown was captured and executed by Lieutenant Murray around April 1685 in Blackwood Estate. Memorial to David Steel: & David Steel's Gravestone David Steel, being a shepherd at Skellyhill farm, was martyred near his farm on 20 December 1686 at the age of 33 under the orders of Lieutenant John Crichton. Memorial to Thomas Linning: Thomas Linning (whose name has been variously written as "Lining" or "Linen") held many conventicles in the Lesmahagow area and took part in the renewing of the Covenants at Boreland (or Borland) Hill in 1689 in the Lesmahagow area. He became leader of the Societies People or Covenanters after the execution of James Renwick on 17 February 1688. In February 1691, Thomas Linning was called to be minister of Lesmahagow Parish Church of Scotland and admitted to the charge on 13 May 1691, for which he, along with Alexander Shields and William Boyd, received the condemnation of many of the Societies people. After his death on 18 October 1733, Thomas Linning was termed "one of the most eminent clergymen in his day and an able defender of the rights and privileges of the church: scrupulously honest in his principles and well skilled in church discipline"
It is very clear that at the beginning of the 19th century, the memory of the Covenanting period and the Killing Times was still very current in Lesmahagow. More particularly, the village was keenly aware of the problems caused within and for the Church of Scotland by the effects of the Revolution Settlement in Scotland and then again by the 1701 Act of Settlement and the following 1711 Patronage Act which reinstated the right of lay patronage in 1712. This is witnessed by the presence in the village and surrounding area of congregations worshipping with and adhering to the ministry and discipline of the Covenanters or Societies people, the Secession church, arising from the 1733 secession, and the Relief Church, arising from the 1761 secession. Each of these secessions from the established Church of Scotland were in relation to the same issues over church governance and patronage. At the time of the Disruption, it seems more than possible that the village of Lesmahagow was keenly aware of the very real spiritual issues relating to patronage; that is, that congregations did not have the freedom, under the leading and direction of God, to call their own minister and be guided in the faith by that minister. This is evidenced through the events which played out within the village from 1839 to 1843 relating to the different congregations of presbyterian persuasion.
Congregations in Lesmahagow and the surrounding area involved in the Disruption and history of Abbeygreen
Lesmahagow Parish was one of only two parishes in the Church of Scotland Presbytery of Lanark which were directly involved in the Disruption, the other being St. Leonard's of Lanark under Rev. Thomas Stark. Other presbyterian congregations in the area became involved in the events around the disruption and in the history of Abbeygreen Church and these are discussed here in their relationships to Abbeygreen prior to the disruption.
This section relates to the churches and congregations directly involved in the history of the formation of Abbeygreen Church as it is today. There are other Christian congregations in Lesmahagow and surrounding area: Notably one of the Scottish Open Brethren, namely the Hope Hall, who meet and worship in the village. Sharing a common understanding of the word of God and the basis for the Christian faith, the Hope Hall and Abbeygreen have a close relationship. Abbeygreen being presbyterian rather than congregational in outlook retains an informal relationship with the Hope Hall for mutual support of the Christian witness in Lesmahagow.
Lesmahagow Parish Church of Scotland; At 1842: 1st Charge: Rev. Dr Andrew Boreland Parker & 2nd Charge, Rev. Dr. John Wilson then Rev. Thomas Burns
The minister of the first charge of the Church of Scotland Parish of Lesmahagow at the time of the Disruption was the Rev. Dr. Andrew Borland Parker. Born in 1810 and licensed to the ministry on 2 October 1833 he came to Lesmahagow from ministering at Levern, Barrhead, near Glasgow until 28 February 1839. Dr. Parker was presented to the congregation by Alexander Hamilton, the 10th Duke of Hamilton on 21 November 1838 and admitted to the first charge of Lesmahagow on 4 April 1839. At this time, Lesmahagow parish of the Church of Scotland was a ministry involving two charges, the first and the second. The minister of the second charge when Dr. Parker arrived in 1839 was the Rev. Dr. John Wilson. Dr. Wilson died in 1842 and was succeeded, in the same year, by the Rev. Thomas Burns who was translated from the High Church in Airdrie. Dr. Parker arrived in the village just prior to the events of 1839 and 1842 which brought the issues relating to patronage so sharply into focus for the people of Lesmahagow.
The North Church, Lesmahagow; At 1842: Rev. William Logan
The North Church in Lesmahagow was a congregation of the Secession or Burgher Church (an "Auld Lichts" congregation) which received separate pulpit supply from 1814 and was formed a session on 5 May 1816 from the Original Burgher congregation in Carluke. This formation of a session was to benefit the people of Lesmahagow who worshipped with the Carluke congregation and to allow them to call a minister. The North Church inducted its first minister on 1 March 1820; a newly licensed minister, the Rev. William Logan, born 1789 and licensed to the ministry in January 1819. This branch of the Original Secession church reunited with the Church of Scotland on 11 September 1839 and on that union, a third charge of the Church of Scotland was created in the Lesmahagow Parish.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church, Ponfeigh; At 1842: Rev. John Milwain
Situated at Ponfeigh, near Douglas Water, was a Reformed Presbyterian Church whose minister was the Rev. John Milwain. This church becomes involved in the history of the formation of Abbeygreen immediately after the Disruption of 1843.
St Leonard's Church, Lanark; At 1842: Rev. Thomas Stark
The Church of Scotland congregation at St. Leonard's was constituted on 27 May 1839 and the church was built and opened in 1841 on Bannatyne Street, adjacent to the site of the soon to be Lanark railway station. The church was situated just east of the station entrance and between the station buildings and Bannatyne Street. The station buildings were built in 1855 by the Caledonian Railway. Thomas Stark (b.1803) was ordained as a minister to the congregation on 29 June 1841 and became a minister of the Free Church in 1843. Dispute between the Church of Scotland and the Free Church over the property, led to the building being closed from 1845 to 1851 and the Free Church congregation bought the Associate Burgher church in Hope Street, Lanark and developed it for the needs of the congregation.
The Relief Church or "Cordiner" Church