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NewcastletonTownfoot Kirk : Origins of the Congregation
The beginnings The congregation which later became known as Newcastleton United Presbyterian Church and ultimately Newcastleton Congregational Church was founded in 1751 by a group of Liddesdale people who were unhappy with the ordination of Mr Simon Haliburton as minister of Castleton Parish Church, following the death in 1749 of the Rev William Armstrong.[1] The settlement of Simon Haliburton as minister of Castleton was delayed in 1750 in consequence of its being opposed by Lord Minto. The Presbytery of Langholm on 3rd July 1750 found 'they could not take the opposition under consideration unless for some matter of life or doctrine, and that as to Haliburton's using notes when he preached, there was no law of the Church against that, and that it was practised by several ministers of the best character.' [2] A date for his ordination was fixed but the Presbytery arrived to find the church keyhole filled with stones.[3] For this disturbance, three men – John and William Cowan, and William Armstrong and a woman – Isabella Waugh – were arrested and for a short time jailed in Edinburgh.[4] Haliburton was eventually ordained on 23rd January 1751[5], and by September 1751 the Liddesdale protesters had organised themselves into a congregation of seceders. To understand the background to these events, it is necessary to travel back to 1560. In that year was published one of the Scottish reformed church’s founding documents, The First Book of Discipline which says that ‘it appertains to the people, and to every several congregation, to elect their minister’.[6] This right was removed entirely by an Act of Parliament in 1712 which reintroduced ‘patronage’ to the Church of Scotland. This meant that choice of a parish minister no longer lay with the members of the congregation, nor even with the kirk session, but became the prerogative of the local landowners or ‘patrons’. After some years of increasing discontent, with many disputed ministerial appointments, a petition was presented to the General Assembly in 1732 and signed by church members from all over the country. It complained that the Act would ‘wound and subvert Christ’s church’ and ‘shut the gospel door of entering the Lord’s house’. The following year four ministers were deposed from the Kirk for opposing the Act. They were soon joined by other ministers and congregations, organising themselves as the Associate Synod, in effect a Presbyterian church separate from the Church of Scotland. These early seceders were united in their assent to the Kirk’s main doctrinal statement - the Westminster Confession. But they divided into two camps over the relationship between church and state as expressed by the Burgess Oath. Those who opposed taking the oath withdrew from the Associate Synod, founded the General Associate Synod and acquire the nicknamed of Antiburghers. The Associate Synod was usually referred to as the Burgher Synod and its people the Burghers.[7] No-one in Castleton parish was required to take the Burgess oath, but the nearest secession churches were the Antiburgher congregations at Midlem (near Selkirk) and Gateshaw (Morebattle)[8]. Some of the Liddesdale folk began travelling to worship in those places. The distance was inconvenient, so in September 1751 a request was made to the Antiburgher Synod for ‘occasional supply of sermon’ for Liddesdale. This resulted in an Antiburgher preacher visiting Liddesdale on the third Sunday of October 1751, with a fast being held on the Wednesday following.[9] The Liddesdale seceders evidently had no objection to the Burgess Oath. Their next attempt to obtain a preacher was addressed to the Burgher Synod on June 6, 1753 who arranged to send a preacher.[10] The first meeting under the auspices of the Burghers took place on Snaberley Brae near Leahaugh, where it is reported that ‘there was a great assemblage of people and a good collection’. This event marks the start of the Liddesdale Associate or Burgher Congregation.[11]
[1] Small, Robert. History of the congregations of the United Presbyterian Church. Edinbrugh, 1904. Vol 2. p 452.
[2] Langholm Presbytery Minutes. July 3, 1750.
[3] Tait, James. Two centuries of Border church life. p316.
[4] Scots Magazine, 1750, p549; Scots Magazine 1751, p51; Caledonian Mercury, Dec 3, 1750; Edinburgh Evening Courant, Dec 3, 1750
[5] Small. op cit. Vol 2, p 452.
[6] First Book of Discipline. Fourth head. 1560. Available at: http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/bod_ch03.htm#SEC04 [accessed December 27, 2007]
[7] Dictionary of Scottish church history and theology; ed. Nigel M de S Cameron. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993. p 36-37.
[8] Small. op cit. Vol 2. p 453
[9] Associate Presbytery ( Antiburgher) minutes. CH3/111/1. p283.
[10] Tait. Op cit. p319.
[11] Snadden, James. The book of Liddesdale. Manuscript. National Library of Scotland MS 949-53. Vol 4, p 219.
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