Cambuslang Clergy - Other Churches

Other Churches

In 1799 some Christians who were not prepared to attend the Parish Kirk, perhaps including some remnants of Mr M’Culloch’s Cambuslang Wark, rented a house to hold independent meetings. In 1801, they bought a building, which became known as the Tabernacle, in what is now Tabernacle Lane. David Dale, a Glasgow Merchant who lived nearby, contributed some money for this, and worshipped there himself. Thus began the Congregational Church in Cambuslang. After the Disruption of 1843, a Free Church of Scotland congregation was set up. The Duchess of Hamilton gave land for an Episcopalian Church to serve the needs of English immigrants who had come to work in the Cambuslang collieries and Newton Steelworks. Later, Baptists and other Protestant denominations set up chapels, then more substantial churches. Similarly, Catholic immigrants from Ireland and the Highlands were served first by a chapel, then a more substantial church. Meanwhile, the growing population of Cambuslang meant that the Church of Scotland had to set up subsidiary churches - the mission church in Hallside, for example - to accommodate the growing population. These eventually became the separate Parishes of the Church of Scotland - Flemington Hallside Church, Trinity Parish Church and St Andrew’s Church of Scotland, are remaining examples. Smaller Protestant Churches were also set up - Westcoats Evangelical Church for example, and the Gospel Hall.