HISTORY OF CARLUKE KIRK – The following is taken from the booklet ‘St Andrew’s Parish Church, Carluke – A Short History 1296 – 1999’ by the late Dr Daniel Martin which is currently out of print.

The earliest known place of Christian worship in Carluke Parish was on the banks of the Clyde at Mauldslie (opposite Rosebank) where land was given by Royal charters of 1315 and 1321.  The area was formerly known as Abbeysteads and the church was often referred to as the Forest Kirk.  It is reputed to be the church referred to by Blind Harry as the place where William Wallace was declared Guardian of Scotland in 1297.

That small building was replaced by the church in Carluke Churchyard probably in the 14th or 15th century, definitely before the Reformation in the 16th century.   By 1650 Carluke Kirk was known to be very old and almost in ruins.  It continued in use till 1800.  The bell tower (built in 1715) still stands in the old churchyard at the foot of the town.

THE PRESENT CHURCH

Built in 1799 this church replaced the church in Carluke Churchyard (Carnwath Road) and is one of the oldest buildings still in use in the town.   

The old kirk had been condemned by Lanark Presbytery and on 14th February 1799 the erection of a new church was approved by the heritors – the landowners who were responsible for erecting and maintaining the parish church. 

Construction of this building was completed in 1800.   It was designed by Henry Bell, who built the ‘Comet’, Europe’s first passenger-carrying steam ship, and the cost of erection was £950.  This building incorporates two features from the old church it replaced, an arch inside the porch and a window with slender fluted pillars in the front of tower. 

The church bell – still in use – was gifted by Mrs Margaret Porterfiel, widow of John Lockhart of Lee.

The original spire, described as being rather elegant, was destroyed by lightning in 1801 and wasn’t replaced till 1820.  A lightning conductor was added in 1990!

The original building was just four bare walls and the tower.  A decision was made in 1889 to enlarge the building.   The porch to the front, a hall to the rear and the apse accommodating the organ and choir were added as was a heating system.  The pink sandstone arch which makes the interior so distinctive was built at that time and it is likely that the free-standing (and moveable) pulpit was also installed then.   In 1913 the seating was replaced.  Around that time a communion table and chair, together with a Bible, were donated by Mr John Findlay of Braidwood.

The cost of the Porch and part of the cost of the hall were paid by Alexander Tudhope, a coalmaster and one of the elders.

A further hall was added in 1931 and a new lighting system was installed in 1949.

CARLUKE KIRK BECOMES “ST ANDREW’S”

Following the “great union” of the United Free Church of Scotland with the Church of Scotland in October 1929, Carluke Kirk – the Parish Church of Carluke – assumed the title “St. Andrew’s Parish Church, Carluke”.  The other two Church of Scotland churches in the town adopted the titles “Kirkton Parish Church” (formerly the Kirkton United Free Church and previously the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland) and “St John’s Parish Church” (formerly St. John’s United Free Church and previously the Free Church of Scotland).  St Andrew’s was relieved of the responsibility of supervision and oversight of the whole of Carluke Parish which was divided amongst the three churches.

In the Kirk Session minutes of September 1929 it is stated: “It was unanimously agreed to revive the old name of St. Andrew’s as a distinctive designation for the church after the Union.”  Note the reference to the “old name”.   In the booklet ‘Carluke Parish Kirk’ written in 1925 (probably by Rev Francis M. Hauxwell, the Minister) it is stated of the old church “Sometime during the Roman Catholic regime, in all likelihood when the church in the churchyard was built, the Church was dedicated to St. Andrew.”  Further evidence of this dedication appears in ‘Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland’ by James Murray MacKinlay published in 1910 where reference is made to an earlier work compiled from early testaments (wills) held in the records of the Commissariot of Lanark. A testament of William Robertson, made at Mauldslie on 21st September 1551 instructs his “body to be buried in the dust of St Andrew”.

MEMORIALS

The church contains various memorials.   There are memorials to those killed in the Great War and in World War Two at the lower landing of the stair and individual memorial tablets along the galleries, mostly to the sons of landowners who died fighting for their country overseas.

Stained glass windows commemorate three ministers, Rev Francis Hauxwell (1888 – 1929), Dr John Wylie (1818 – 1873) – who is also commemorated by a memorial tablet in the south gallery – and Rev Daniel McLaren (1874 – 1887).

Outside, a Memorial garden, the Garden of Hope was completed in 2001.

ITEMS TO NOTE

Within the church are an organ made by H Willis and Sons and installed in 1903, stained glass windows including one made by Gordon McWhirter Webster in 1932 (Webster’s designs for all eight ground floor windows are on display in the vestibule) and a pulpit fall and companion communion table runner by Marilyn E W McGregor DA (1999).