The Disruption in Dundonald
The Disruption which occurred in the Church of Scotland in 1843 arose largely because of objections to the policy of patronage. Under this policy the principal patron of a church, in Dundonald’s case the Earl of Eglinton, held the right to select the minister for the parish without regard to the wishes of the people. Many members of the church felt that this was unfair. When the minister’s living depended so heavily on the support of the patron, he was almost sure to take the patron’s side in any matters of dispute. This was particularly true in the crofting counties of the highlands where ministers would often preach to the people in support of the landlords’ policy of evicting the people from their lands in favour of the more profitable business of sheep farming. This was deeply offensive to the people, who believed that the ministers should be on their side.
Matters came to a head at the General Assembly in Edinburgh in May 1843 when 190 ministers of the Evangelical group, who were strongly opposed to patronage, walked out of the Assembly, marched down to Cannonmills and held a meeting at which they agreed to set up the Free Church of Scotland. This was a brave act on their part as they were giving up their manses and their stipends and laying their future in the hands of those people who would support them.
Despite the early indications of discontent with patronage when Rev Macleod was presented to the parish, the Disruption in Dundonald was handled in a quiet and dignified manner. Perhaps this was because, in time, John Macleod came to be respected by the community; perhaps it was because the new minister, Mr Willison, was less than two years into his ministry and had already endeared himself to the congregation with his work amongst the poor and needy. Whatever the reason the event which split the church from one end of the country to the other was handled here with restraint. This is perhaps best illustrated by the excerpt from the relevant session minute:
“Dundonald 20th July 1843……..the Moderator handed in a letter signed by Messrs John Alexander and James Mitchell, Elders in this parish resigning their office as members of the Kirk Session. The session expressed regret that these Gentlemen had discontinued their services which had been of so great a benefit to this parish, but in the circumstances the session had no alternative but to accept their resignations. It was agreed to erase their names from the roll.”
Those who seceded from the church in Dundonald were able, almost immediately, to build a Free Church. This was done with the assistance of Rev Thomas Burns of Monkton, a nephew of Robert Burns the poet. Thomas Burns had already been very active in Dundonald, assisting John Macleod in the later years of his ministry when he was becoming frail, and he became the first minister of the new church. The new church building was built on ground granted under feu by Sir John Cunningham Fairlie of Robertland and Fairlie in 1848. It is said to have been a paddock previously used as a place to graze horses while their owners attended church. This suggestion is given some credibility by the fact that the ground was adjacent to the site of the village blacksmith.
The ease with which the new church was built is a further illustration of the restraint with which the split was handled here. In some parts of the country the local laird could be so opposed to the Free Church as to ensure that no ground was made available to the seceders. In one instance in the north west where the landlord proved stubborn the Free Church members, showing great ingenuity, were forced to build a new church on a boat which was then anchored out in the loch and worshippers were ferried back and forth.
Perhaps it is appropriate to quote at this point an old rhyme from the period:
The Wee Kirk, the Free Kirk
The Kirk without the steeple
The Auld Kirk, the cauld Kirk
The Kirk without the People