Spring Parish Church And Graveyard Auchtermuchty Fife Scotland

Tour Scotland Spring 4K travel video of the parish church and graveyard on visit to Auchtermuchty, Fife. The first recorded mention of any church on the site of the present Parish Church is on March 31st 1245 when the building, probably constructed of wattle and daub, was consecrated by the then Bishop of St Andrews, Archbishop de Burnham. There may well have been a church on the chosen site before this and it might have been called St Serf's or St Severus' in remembrance of one of the early saints of this area. We can find out exactly what took place that day in 1245 as the records, including the order of service, are in the Louvre in Paris, France. In the following year, Macduff, Thane of Fife, was captured in the Battle of Durham. He made a vow that, if he escaped with his life, he would make recompense to the Church, and in 1250, he gave the living of the Parish of Auchtermuchty, including the land and produce to the Abbey of Lindores. The Reformation that impacted on the rest of Scotland scarcely touched Auchtermuchty. In 1615 the Reverend James Barker, the 2nd Reform Minister, was accused by the Synod of Gambling and was Rebuked. The Reverend Barker was married to a relation of the local Laird whose family financed the building of the Reformation Church, which could explain the leniency of the sentence. Other ministers in other areas might have been dismissed or fined. There were a number of independently minded clerics in Auchtermcuhty. One of these was John Glass, son of Reverend Alexander Glass of the Separation Church. John Glass founded the breakaway sect of the Glassites who met in the open air in what is now know at Glassarts Glen to the north of the town on the Newburgh Road. From here John Glass went to Dundee and founded the Sandeman Church in 1727, whose parishioners served soup after services, giving the Sandeman Church the nickname of the Kail Kirk after the cabbage soup so often served. In 1733, the Secession Church was founded by those who did not agree with the way the Parish church was being run at the time. They met at Abernethy, Perthshire. From 1890 to 1956 the Minister of the Church in the Burnside was Reverend Mr Bell, whose son, H J B Bell was a famous hill climber. In his latter days, H J B Bell lived in the former manse, now known as Redwood, at the corner of Low Road and Gladgate.

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