Merrylea connections

John R Hume reflects on the history of a church on the south side of Glasgow.

THE suburb of Merrylee is on the ‘south side’ of Glasgow, in the former parish of Cathcart, whose history can be traced back to the 12th century.

The family which was allocated this parish at that time was Breton, speaking a language similar to that of the British (p-Celtic) inhabitants of this part of west-central Scotland. The name ‘Cathcart’ is in fact based on ‘Caer Cart’, the British for ’the fort on the Cart’, which was probably situated on a headland above the river, later the site of Cathcart Castle, below which was the village of Old Cathcart, on the east bank of the river Cart, on an ancient route from Glasgow to the south. In the 18th century a second village, named ‘New Cathcart’ was established on a new road from Glasgow to the south. To the west of this new road lay farmland, with by the mid-19th century a scatter of ‘improved’ farm steadings. A paper mill had been established on the Cart in the 17th century, but remained an isolated example of industrialisation in the area.

Suburban development of what is now known as Merrylee began with the opening of the Cathcart District Railway in 1886 and its extension to form the Cathcart Circle in 1894, with a station on the latter at Langside. The first houses in the area were large detached or semi-detached villas; later neat red-sandstone terraces began to be built. In 1886 a carpet factory at the east end of what is now Newlands Road was replaced by the Holm Foundry of G and J Weir, which became a major employer. Senior staff presumably lived in houses in what is now Merrylea, though many of their neighbours were ‘commuters’ (holders of season tickets) travelling to and from central Glasgow on the Cathcart Circle.

Church provision for these growing suburbs began in the 1890s, when Cathcart United Presbyterian (Cathcart South, now Cathcart Trinity) and Cathcart Free (later New Cathcart) churches were constructed. The former is on the edge of the original village of New Cathcart, and the latter was close to the burgeoning Holm Foundry. The new Merrylee was a considerable distance from the only ‘established’ church, Cathcart Parish, in Old Cathcart, so following the union of the Free and United Presbyterian churches in 1900, forming the United Free Church, with two places of worship, the landowners (heritors) of Cathcart Parish decided to construct a ‘chapel of ease’ in Merrylee. Accordingly an iron temporary church was built, opening on October 4 1903. It was replaced by the present splendid stone church, designed in his favoured Romanesque style by Peter Macgregor Chalmers, then the leading Scottish church architect. The new building, beautifully fitted out for ‘Scoto-Catholic’ worship, was dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and opened on March 15 1915. On March 15 1918 it was given its own parish ‘quoad sacra’ (for ecclesiastical purposes).

When I was born on a Sunday evening in February 1939 my father was playing the organ in this church. Later in that year I was baptised by the Reverend John McLagan, beginning for me a life-long connection with the ‘Universal Church’ in Scotland, and a deep feeling for the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I write this at the beginning of the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic, when we are all acutely conscious of our mortality. Here, therefore, I pay tribute to all in the Church in Scotland who have throughout my life helped and nourished me.

Merrylea Church has no tower or steeple, but with its sheltering Romanesque masonry it evokes the ‘charity (love), humility and godliness’ which are at the heart of my Trinitarian belief.

This article appears in the May 2020 Issue of Life and Work

Click here to view the article in the magazine.

To view other articles in this issue Click here.

If you would like to view other issues of Life and Work, you can see the full archive here.