John R Hume explores the history of Christianity in Angus – with a focus on Montrose.

MONTROSE is a very attractive and historic town on the coast of Angus, on a strip of land between the North Sea and a large tidal inlet known as Montrose Basin.

Until the mid-20th century there were two outlets from this area, creating an islet named Inchbrayock. With the development of the North Sea oil industry in the 1970s the southern outlet was blocked, and on land reclaimed to the east a base for that industry was established.

Two centuries earlier a turnpike road was formed up the east coast, with a ferry crossing of the northern channel, superseded by a notable suspension bridge completed in 1829. This was in turn supplanted by a concrete bridge whose design echoed that of the 1820s structure. A handsome modern bridge is now Montrose’s link to the south.

With the construction of coach roads from the later 18th century Montrose began to develop as a seaport, as a market town for a large area, and as a centre for the hand-spinning and weaving of linen cloth. During the 19th-century that industry was mechanised. A branch railway was opened to the town in about 1850, and in the early 1880s a line was constructed linking the town to Arbroath, Dundee and the south, and to Aberdeen and the north.

But it was not always thus, with Montrose the most important settlement in North Angus. If one looks at a modern Ordnance Survey map, one will find at the south-east corner the place-name ‘Old Montrose’.

It is very likely that before the basin silted up, and land-based communication supplanted coastal navigation, this was the port for the hinterland to the west, between the Angus glens and the sea. The most important place in that area was Brechin, on a south-facing slope above the river South Esk. Because of its favourable location it seems certain that St Ninian, on his missionary journey to the southern Picts, founded a settlement of the clergy of the ‘Church of the Incarnation’. From this base they would have ministered to a wide area, travelling on foot, by water or on donkeys, as was customary in that Church.

In due course that settlement became part of the Celi De or Culdees, and was given land, including the ‘great city of Brechin’, by the then king of the southern Picts, Kenneth MacMalcolm. The Culdee community then built the Irish-style Round Tower which is still a distinctive feature of Brechin. When David I became King of Scots in the 12th century he converted the Culdee settlements throughout Scotland into monasteries or cathedrals as were customary in the Roman Catholic Church.

In the case of Brechin, the Culdees became a Cathedral Chapter. The diocese thus created included the parish of Montrose, hence its relevance to this article.

The present parish church of Old Montrose and St Andrew’s is in the heart of the burgh, on a mound on the east side of the market-place. This mound was probably originally the site of the first organised burial ground in the settlement, possibly preceding the first church.

The body of the present church dates from 1792, and is unusual in having two tiers of gallery seating.

Its most striking feature is, however, its immensely tall tower and steeple, built in 1832-34 to replace an earlier one, and probably designed as a sea-mark for vessels using the harbour. The architect was James Gillespie Graham, the most celebrated church architect of the day in Scotland.

The steeple, like that of St Mungo’s Alloa, is modelled on that of the parish church of Louth in Lincolnshire, also a landmark church. This is Montrose’s most distinguished building. The town itself is a fine, lively place, and well worth a visit. ¤