History of Cambuslang - The Church

The Church

The origin of the Parish Kirk of Cambuslang is lost in history, though it is traditionally supposed to have been founded by St Cadoc in the 6th century. Certainly, St Cadoc (or Cadow) is recorded as wandering about the hills of Strathclyde and finally founding a monastery at a spot most likely to have been the current site of the Old Parish Church. However, we hear of its first ecclesiastic about 1180 in relation to the Barony. Subsequently, there is a fairly full record of at least the names of Cambuslang clergy.

John Cameron of Lochiel was Rector of Cambuslang before he became Bishop of Glasgow. In 1429, as Bishop, he made Cambuslang a prebend of Glasgow Cathedral – meaning that the Rector (or Prebendary) could siphon off its teinds (that is tithes) to pay for one of his officials. The prebendary and his successor were to be perpetual Chancellors of the Cathedral. A later Archbishop of Glasgow James Beaton (or Bethune) was uncle to David Beaton, the Cardinal murdered at the Reformation. James made David Rector (and so prebendary) of Cambuslang in about 1520.

The prebendaries had a very fine view of the Cathedral from Cambuslang, but the distance meant they had to reside at Glasgow. Instead, they appointed vicars to care for the souls of the Parish. The vicars were allocated a house and 6 acres (24,000 m²), in an area near the Kirk, which is still called Vicarland. This indicates that the area was (relatively) prosperous. A post-Reformation church was erected in 1626 and a village (Kirkhill) grew up around it. A new kirk was built in the middle of the 18th century and this was replaced by the current building during the 19th century.