The Torphichen connection

TORPHICHEN was until recently a small settlement – essentially a ‘kirkton’ in West Lothian, south of Linlithgow.

Its parish church is now linked with that of Avonbridge.

Torphichen church is celebrated for three things. Firstly, it was from the 12th century until the Reformation the Scottish home of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem – the Knights Hospitallers – presumably brought there under Royal patronage, as part of the outcome of David I’s Normanisation of Lowland Scotland. The Knights built, towards the end of the 12th century, a monastery there with a church – Preceptory – whose remains still dominate the centre of the village.

The Preceptory seems to have been on the Latin-cross plan typical of the period, with choir, nave and transepts and a tower above the intersection of the main body of the building and the alignment of the transepts. The transepts were increased in height in the 15th century, and rooms, linked through the bell-chamber of the tower, created. After the Reformation the ground-level openings from the choir and nave were blocked up; the nave became the parish church, and the transepts and crossing, with the rooms above became the court house for the Regality of Torphichen.

Secondly, there is the quality of the present parish church, the subject of this article. In 1756 the nave, probably by then in a poor state of repair, was demolished, and its materials were presumably used in the construction of a typical T-plan country church. Agricultural improvement of the surrounding farmland led in 1803 to creating galleries above the arms of the T, raising the wallheads with staircases giving access to the galleries. Facing the pulpit is the ‘laird’s loft’, with its own external open stair. The pulpit may date from the 18th century; the pews are 1803 work. The pew at the front, below the laird’s loft can be refolded to make a communion table, an unusual feature. There is also a baptism bowl, to receive baptismal water after it had been poured over the head of an infant by the minister. This bowl would have originally been placed on a bracket attached to the side of the pulpit. So altogether the church is one of the most attractive and important 18th-early 19th century parish churches in Scotland.

Thirdly is the Torphichen connection with Henry Bell, famous for commissioning the steamship Comet, the first commercial steamship in Europe, introduced on the Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock in 1812. Bell was born in Torphichen Mill in 1767 and there is a plaque to him under one of the lofts. Another celebrated native of the parish was Sir James Gowans, an idiosyncratic architect, and a successful late 19th century Edinburgh businessman, initiator of the 1886 Edinburgh International Exhibition, the first of Scotland’s great exhibitions. He became Lord Provost of Edinburgh. In the graveyard at Torphichen is a monument erected by Sir James to his father. Towards the western edge of the parish is Gowanbank, built in Sir James’s characteristic style; part of which survives as dwelling-houses.

Finally, it is worth remembering that a late-20th century minister of Torphichen, the Rev P Hugh R Mackay, played a pivotal role in the reopening of the Lowland Scottish Canals as the ‘Millennium Link.

While minister here he became a canal enthusiast and became one of the founders of the Seagull Trust (which provides free canal cruises for people with various disabilities. Through his connection with the Order of St John, (formed through Torphichen Parish Church), he secured the first specially-adapted boat – the St John Crusader. The success of the Trust was important in the case made to the Millennium Fund for supporting the Millennium Link…. So do remember Hugh Mackay when you think about Torphichen.

This article appears in the March 2021 Issue of Life and Work

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