Anne-Mary Paterson reflects on the history and legacy of the first overseas Church of Scotland.

I WAS on a river cruise in the Netherlands and Belgium. A place called Veere was on the itinerary. Imagine my surprise when I found that the first Church of Scotland on foreign soil was established there.

Veere, now on the land-locked island of Walcheron, has a picturesque harbour which until the floods of 1947, was open to the North Sea.

Scotland had been trading with the Low Countries since the 12th century but when there was a surplus of Scottish wool, the monks at Melrose Abbey exported the surplus to Flanders which did not charge duty. At first it went to Bruges but due to the river silting up, the merchants moved to Middleburg in the 16th century.

Because Middleburg came under Spain’s Catholic influence on the Low Countries, the merchants moved a few miles away to Veere which was more sympathetic to Calvin’s views. The local people made them welcome as Veere already had connections with Scotland. When in 1444, Wolfert van Borsele married Mary Stewart daughter of King James 1 of Scotland, he gave his daughter the Earldom of Buchan. She died childless in 1465 and was buried in Grote Kerk in Veere.

In 1541 the Master of Veere and the representatives of the Royal Burghs of Scotland signed what was called a monopoly contract. This meant that the Scottish merchants had to deal exclusively with Veere in a list of goods that included raw wool, manufactured woollen and linen goods, salmon, butter, leather, hides and skins. They also exported coal and black lead to Veere. In return, they were granted privileges including tax exemptions and an exclusive water supply presumably for washing raw wool. They were also allowed to use part of the Great Church for their own services.

When ships returned to Scotland, they took red pan tiles as ballast. In Scotland a house with a tiled roof indicated that a merchant lived there. Gradually tiles became the favoured roofing for houses in Fife and some other east coast areas.

Most of the Scots in Veere were Presbyterian while some of the Dutch inhabitants remained faithful to Roman Catholicism. In 1613 the Scottish Presbyterian church in Veere was directly linked to the General Assembly in Edinburgh. It was the first Church of Scotland to be set up outside the homeland. The congregation could appoint its elders and ministers. Services were held in the northern nave of the choir of the Great Church where communion, baptisms and marriages could be celebrated. The Scottish Cemetery was adjacent.

When in 1795, the French Revolutionary Army conquered the Dutch Republic, Veere lost its monopoly on trade so the Scottish community gradually dwindled. The Rev Lickly, last of the eighteen ministers, held his final service on 24th November 1799. It was very emotional for him and his small congregation. The precentor sang Psalm 125 as a request and the service finished with the reading of Second Corinthians 13:11 and the singing of Psalm 122, verses 2 and 3. By 1869 all Scots had left.

In 1613 the Scottish Presbyterian church in Veere was directly linked to the General Assembly in Edinburgh. It was the first Church of Scotland to be set up outside the homeland.

The northern nave was sold to the Lutheran Church. When it became too big it was demolished. The contents were sold. The seventeenth century pulpit went to the Dutch Reformed Congregation in Westkapelle. During the Second World War an allied air raid destroyed the church. Four silver communion cups engraved with the words Brotherlie Love is Good and Pleasant and manufactured by De Cliever, Middleburgh are now in Manchester Cathedral.

The historic links between Scotland and Veere are kept alive especially in the quaint little royal burgh of Culross and of course in Veere itself.