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The History
of Dun & Hillside

“Among the reformers who particularly distinguished themselves during that interesting period, none was more zealous in the cause, none more prudent and active, than John Erskine, Baron of Dun; a man who by his birth, piety and learning, was eminently qualified for the civil and religious duties in which he was engaged during a long and eventful life, spent in the service of his oppressed country".

Remarks Upon the Religious and Political Affairs of Scotland during the 16th Centuary – James Bowick 1828)

The Reverend William J Sinclair was inducted on 6th November 1955. At that time, Dun Parish Church and Hillside Parish Church became a linked charge. In effect, the two parishes remained independent in terms of their buildings, sessions and finances but shared a minister and the costs of the ministry in terms of stipend and the manse. In 2004 nearly fifty years and three ministers later, the two parishes united to become Dun and Hillside Parish Church. At that point the two sessions united into one body and all aspects of congregational life were joined while weekly services continued at both churches.

 

Despite the diminishing number of people coming to church, particularly young families with children, services continued in both churches until early 2020. During the four or five years preceding this, the church struggled with periods of ministerial absence and the inevitable lack of the leadership required to sustain and develop a vibrant church. In common with all churches, Covid 19 led to the temporary closure of both churches.

 

Sadly, Dun Church was never to re-open for regular worship and the final service was held in Dun Church on 3rd July 2022.

 

Although the Dun Church building that we remember has only existed since 1834, there has been a church on the Dun Estate since the 16th Century. Baron John Erskine, 5th Laird of Dun played a significant role in the Protestant reformation in Scotland. He knew John Knox who visited and preached at Dun on at least two occasions. Reportedly, Knox addressed large gatherings of people from Angus and the Mearns at Dun. John Erskine went on to become an ordained minister and most significantly, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He served in this role on four occasions (1564, 1565, 1566 and 1572). He was also the superintendent of Angus and Mearns, a role in which he oversaw the establishment of the newly formed Presbyterian Church in Scotland. In its early days, the parish of Dun and the parish of Egglisjohn (now Langley Park) amalgamated.

 

The present Dun Church was built in 1834 on behalf of Lady Margaret Erskine, 17th Laird of Dun, Marchioness of Ailsa and a direct descendent of John Erskine. The church was designed and built by Robert Dalgarno, a local builder from Maryton. He also built Dun parish school and the stables at the nearby House of Dun. This new church was simple and traditional in design and replaced the original building which was located near the walled garden and graveyard on the Dun estate. The previous church was converted into a family mausoleum and contains the tombs of Lady Margaret and her husband, Baron Cassilis. The ornate carvings and pulpit from the original church were sold by the Kennedy Erskine family. Some pieces were eventually recovered and found their way to the present building. Those who visited Dun Church before it closed in 2022, will remember the towering oak pulpit at the front of the church with its large canopy and carvings. It bore the date 1615, the initials “J E” and presumed coat of arms of John Erskine one of the earliest parish ministers who came to the church in 1614. He is thought to be a nephew of John Erskine, 5th Laird of Dun. The pulpit was safely removed from Dun Church when the building was sold in 2023. It has been restored by the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh where, as the third oldest pulpit in Scotland it is stored.

 

Dun Church was a traditional country church, simply furnished with a gallery upstairs and bench pews and larger enclosed family pews downstairs. The pulpit itself was raised on a pedestal so that the preacher could fix his gaze on the whole congregation both seated in the gallery and downstairs. Later additions to the church were memorials in commemoration of:

 

        Augustus Kennedy Erskine 19th Laird of Dun 1908

        Arthur Jacob (son of Arthur and Violet Jacob) who died at the battle of the Somme in 1916,

        Augustus Cruikshank of Langley Park 1918

        Arthur Jacob (husband of the writer Violet Jacob)1936

        Men from the parish who were killed in the Great War 1914 - 1918 

 

The former Manse at Dun is now called Wester Dun. It is a large house with extensive grounds and outbuildings. As well as a manse, it provided somewhere for the Sunday School and for the Session to meet. Dun Church also had a Glebe which provided additional income for the church and minister. The sale of the Manse in 1955 helped fund the Church Hall built on part of the Glebe. The building was a former farm building which was relocated to the site. It flourished as a venue for the Sunday School as well as many social events for over sixty years. Much effort was put into maintaining the building but eventually it had to be demolished in 2020 when its asbestos roof was deemed to be in a dangerous condition.

Some pictures of Dun Church

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Hillside or Hillside of Hedderwick as it was known in earlier times did not have its own church building until 1870. Hillside village was part of the Parish of Montrose and the church’s presence in the area was in the form of a Session School. The school was located at Loanhead near the present Village Hall. The school building was initially a small cottage which housed the teacher and his family as well as serving as the schoolroom and a place of worship. In 1857 a new school building was erected and still exists today although now has been repurposed for housing. The cross above the north gable of the building clearly defines its origins. For several years, church services and the “Sabbath School” were conducted in the schoolroom.

 

Those who worshipped at the Session School in Hillside became concerned that services were not being held in the village on a regular weekly basis and feared that they might cease completely. They therefore petitioned the Session at Montrose Old Church for it to seek permission from the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland to form “a regular Missionary District with a resident Missionary” and a “Mission School”.

 

An application to the General Trustees for permission and funding was successful. In 1862 Hillside was able to appoint the Rev. James Donald as its first missionary (Minister). The congregation in Hillside were committed to funding the missionary aided by a grant from the national church of £30 -£40 a year (£4650 -£6200 today). Mr Donald was succeeded by Rev Alexander Gaull in 1865. By this stage, the Hillside Mission appears to have been thriving. Regular subscriptions were being received from members in addition to a large legacy of £300 (£45,000 today) from a Miss Anne Shand in 1866.

 

In July 1868, the General Assembly’s Home Mission Committee was now putting pressure on the Hillside Mission to “have a suitable Chapel erected”.

 

“Unless the necessary steps are taken in the course of the present year, they will discontinue their allowance (financial support} altogether”.

 

By September 1868 Mission Trustees had been appointed and were focused on building a church in Hillside. The preferred site was on land to the west and immediately adjacent to the mission school. This was on land feued from Major Thomas Renny Tailyour of Newmanswalls. The estimated building cost was about £900 (£141,000 in present day money).

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The Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin Review of the time reported:

“The foundation stone of this Church was laid on the first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine years, AD by Jonathan Duncan Inverarity, Esq. of Rosemount, in presence of a large number of spectators deeply interested in the success of the undertaking. Previous to this date divine service had been conducted for seven years by an appointed missionary in the adjoining schoolroom. These missionaries were appointed Rev. J. Donald 26th May 1862 and Rev. Alex Gaull 27th February 1865. Anxious to provide more sufficiently for the growing wants of this locality by securing for themselves the services of an ordained minister, and for their own district the status of a parish, the congregation of Hillside aided by the members of the Established* and Melville Churches, and other friends of the Church of Scotland, having raised the necessary funds for the building, procured from the Presbytery of Brechin permission to allocate the bounds of the new parish, and erect a church within the same.”(*Old Kirk)

 

The church was designed by Alexander Grieve who was an architect in Montrose. The building work was completed within ten months. The church was opened on Sunday 6th March 1870 by Rev. Frederick Crombie, D.D., Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism, St Andrews University. The Rev Alex Milne was ordained and inducted as its first minister on 17th March 1870. The Montrose Standard provides an interesting description of the church building when it opened.

 

“The site on which the church is built is not very good, but the trustees could not procure another, without considerably greater outlay of money. The railway embankment prevents a view of the church from the north side. The interior is well lighted and seated about 400.”

 

There was a significant shortfall in funding for the building and this was not resolved until the mid 1870s. Concerts and bazaars were held in the village to raise funds to pay off the debt. Other congregations in Montrose also generously supported this effort. To save costs, some elements of the building were delayed. A proposed gallery to augment the church’s capacity was never built. The minister preached from a lectern on the platform at the front of the church as there was no pulpit. The porch, vestry and bell tower were not added until 1887. They were funded by Mrs Rodney Napier in memory of her husband who had been in business in Montrose. An “American Organ” was acquired in 1891 at which time the services of the precentor were dispensed with and an organist was appointed.

 

The very ornate and beautiful stained-glass windows were not present when the church was opened. The original windows were quite plain and similar in design to those on the east and west sides of the church. The stained-glass windows at the front of the church were donated by the Dickson family of Sunnyside House in memory of Lieutenant Alan James Dickson who was killed at Ypres in 1914 aged 22 years. The windows at the rear of the church were given in memory of Mr Patrick Dickson by his wife in 1919. The windows were designed and manufactured by the James Ballantyne Company (Edinburgh). The same company also created windows for the House of Lords.

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Some pictures of Hillside Church

It is not clear where the minister lived during the early years of Hillside Church. In 1886 the Trustees purchased a house on Main Road, Hillside, opposite where the scout hut now is. The house was significantly altered and enlarged to accommodate the minister and his family. Again, it was largely funded by the efforts of church members and by local congregations in Montrose. It became the shared Manse of Dun and Hillside in 1955 when the churches linked and the manse at Dun was sold. It remained in use until the present new manse was built in Manse Road in 1995.

 

Unlike most churches, Hillside has never had its own church hall. However, the Public or Village Hall built in 1910 has been used for many years for many church activities. It was funded by public subscription and built adjacent to the church and like the church, on land donated by the Renny Tailyour family of Newmanswalls.

 

Dun Church and Hillside Church came into being in very different eras. Dun was built at the behest of the local laird, Hillside by public demand supported by public subscription. Together they exemplify the evolution of the Church of Scotland.

 

Dun was there at the very beginning of the national church. Protestantism evolved as a reaction to the Church of Rome, its Latin liturgy, its demands for money and the terrible cruelty it showed to anyone who disagreed with its principles. Three of those martyred by the Catholic Church, David Stratton (1534), George Wishart (1546), Walter Milne (1558) all had local connections and were “burnt at the stake”. When John Knox preached in Dun in 1555, many of the local people were inspired to adopt the Protestant faith and none more so than John Erskine, future Moderator of the Church of Scotland.

 

Hillside Church was part of the 19th century growth of the Church of Scotland. People needed places to worship and “quoad sacra” churches (churches within existing parishes) like Hillside, were being built. During this religious fervour churches could be filled to capacity for both morning and evening Sunday services. Times have obviously changed. From the three united churches of Montrose, barely 100 members will now attend a joint service. Have human spiritual needs really changed that much in the last 150 years or is it that the church and its ageing membership is being held back by its rituals, language, and how it responds to those who no longer feel part of it?

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Dr. John Griffith 2025

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Union of Dun and Hillside with Old and St. Andrews and with Montrose South and Ferryden to form

Montrose Trinity Church In August 2023

                                                                   2023  Rev. Ian Gray (Ordained Locum Minister)

                                                                   2025  Completion of Montrose Trinity Team Ministry

                                                                             Rev. Derek Peat

                                                                             Rev. Michelle McAdoo

                                                                             Rev. Ian Gray

Follow this link to read the Basis of Team ministry

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Registered Scottish Charity No. SC009934

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