Chalmer’s Memorial Free Church, Backdykes, Anstruther Easter

Chalmer’s Memorial Free Church, Backdykes, Anstruther Easter

Following the Great Disruption in 1843, the minister of Anstruther Easter, William Ferrie, joined the Free Church, taking around 300 of his congregation with him. They built a small church in 1844 on a site in Hadfoot Wynd. In 1858 a larger, Gothic-style building was constructed on the same site, designed by the architect John Milne of St Andrews. In 1889 they moved again, this time to the Chalmers Memorial Church. Named after Thomas Chalmers, a key figure in the formation of the Free Church who was born in Anstruther, the new church was designed by the architect David Henry. The Free Church congregation joined with the United Presbyterians in Anstruther in 1900 and subsequently formed the Anstruther Chalmers Memorial United Free Church. After re-joining the Church of Scotland in 1929, it was known as Anstruther Chalmers Memorial, until a link was established with St Adrian’s Parish Church in 1973. Ten years later the church fell out of use, and into a derelict state. It was completely destroyed in a fire in 1991. There is no visible trace of the building, and houses have been built on the site.

sacredlandscapesoffife

tt27@st-andrews.ac.uk

Site

96

15/06/2021

(1) William Ewing, Annals of the Free Church of Scotland, 1843-1900 (Edinburgh, 1914), ii, p.151.

cm x cm x cm

current,56.22231738537953,-2.6965355870925127;

Chalmer’s Memorial Free Church, Backdykes, Anstruther Easter

TEXT

Building

198

1

Free Church