Stranraer, Church Street, Old Parish Church And Burial-ground
Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (17th Century), War Memorial (20th Century)
Site Name Stranraer, Church Street, Old Parish Church And Burial-ground
Classification Burial Ground (Period Unassigned), Church (17th Century), War Memorial (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) War Memorial Plaque
Canmore ID 216362
Site Number NX06SE 127
NGR NX 05957 60798
NGR Description NX 05957 60798 and NX 05954 60813
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/216362
- Council Dumfries And Galloway
- Parish Stranraer
- Former Region Dumfries And Galloway
- Former District Wigtown
- Former County Wigtownshire
EXTERNAL REFERENCE
Scottish Records Office
Stranraer. Building of the Church.
Payment of #213 to the Magistrates fo Stranraer 'to enable them to pay for building the Kirk and the ground purchased by them including #20 promised Archibald Paterson above the contract' and after deduction of #326.1.0 already paid.
William Leggate's Account Book.
1785 GD 135/Box 40/3/Entry Number 109
Building of the new Church.
Letter from Archibald paterson acknowledging receipt of #435 for building the Kirk at Stranraer. A further #30 is due.
1786 GD 135/Box 61/27/4
Lighting of the proposed new Church.
Letter: Sir Andrew Agnew to George Guthrie. (Factor at Culhorn) He suggests ways of lighting a church that is in close contact with other buildings by making a cupola or lantern light. He cites as examples St George's Episcopal Chapel, Edinburgh and John Ross's new Dining Room.
ND GD 135/Box 63/27
Publication Account (1995)
The parish church, or Old Church figure 18: J, known locally as 'the old parish church' or 'the old parish', was built in 1841 On Church Street. It is virtually on the site of the original, erected in 1649. The parish of Stranraer Was carved out of the parishes of Leswalt and Inch, and sits as a small enclave between the two. One of the conditions imposed at the granting of burgh status was that the town should provide itself with its own church. The 1841 stone-built replacement of the original is of Gothic design, with an ashlar-buttressed front to the street; it was described, somewhat harshly, by Mcilwraith in 1877 as 'having very little pretensions to architectural attractions'. Perhaps of greater interest is the nearby graveyard. This was the first town kirkyard, and tombstones date from the seventeenth century. Set on the west wall of the churchyard is a roughly-finished stone, a memorial to Andro Hervy, chapman and possibly bailie, with the partly-legible date ' 169?’.
Although major developments here is unlikely, alterations within the standing building or in the grounds of the church, for example the insertion of new services, may reveal the remains of the earlier 1649, and the 1694 structures.
Information from ‘Historic Stranraer: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1995).
