(Click on images to see larger photograph)
On 20th September, 1838 Andrew A. Bonar is
ordained at Collace in Perthshire.
Click on the map to see where
Collace is in Scotland.
From 1838 until 1843 he is in the old Church in Kirkton of Collace, near Perth and Dundee.
This turning to Collace is from
the B 953 (between the A90 and A94).
This is the road Andrew Bonar would
likely have used to travel to Dundee.
The landscape from Dunsinnane Hill before going down into Collace village ,
with lovely views
of the distant mountains.
The signpost to Collace Church,
in Kirkton of Collace,
appears after passing through the tiny village.
Before arriving at the church, the old church manse is on the left, hidden in trees, at the foot of
Dunsinnane hill,
which is said to have belonged to MacBeth, King of
Scotland from 1040 to1057.
The church at Kirkton of
Collace looks as if it is set in the middle of nowhere,
and behind it, in
the churchyard, there is a part of a ruined building.
The Kirkton, where Andrew Bonar lived before moving to the new Free Church manse.
This ruined old building is possibly
the original church, consecrated in 1242,
and turned into a
mausoleum for the Nairne family in 1812, when the present church was built.
The pulpit inside the church is still the same as in Andrew Bonar's days, but was placed
to the
left corner in 1919 to make place for a large stained glass window,
commemorating
Mr. Bernard, and installed by his widow.
The old pulpit Bible which would have been used by Andrew Bonar.
The inside of the pulpit where Andrew Bonar preached during the years from 1838 until 1843.
Looking from the front into the church. All the furniture is as it was in Andrew Bonar's time,
although the church was renovated around 1900 by the Bernard family.
In the vestry is a hand-written list of past ministers.
The walls of the vestry are lined with photographs and pictures of past ministers.
This large
photograph of Andrew Bonar had been found with other old things, and
rescued.
In 1843 Andrew Bonar, with other ministers, left the Church of Scotland in the 'Disruption'
(the leaving party became the 'Free Church', governing itself and choosing
its own ministers),
and most of the congregation followed him.
They
moved to Kinrossie where they built the new church, which is now the
village hall.
The site for the new Free Church was given by Mr. Nairne of
Dunsinnane.
The inscription above the door
is from Rev. 17:14.
The Free Church was built in 1843 and opened on 12th
November.
Andrew Bonar's first sermon in the new church was on the text
from Revelation.
A new manse was also built, and Andrew Bonar moved there in September 1848,
five months
after his marriage to Isabella Dickson.
A close-up of the manse, with
grateful thanks to Mr. and Mrs. McLean
who live in the manse, which is now
called 'Bonarwood',
and who showed me the house and let me take
photographs.
When Andrew Bonar left Collace in October 1856, he wrote
in his diary:
"Every road in this neighbourhood, every house in this place,
almost every tree I have passed,
might witness to some mercy."
I would like to thank Revd Robert J Watt for his
help in giving me information
and directing me to Mr. Martin Paine of
Kinrossie, who showed me the inside of the church,
and made me aware of
the following book:
| In 2000 this little book was published by the
Collace Parish Millennium Committee. The chapter on The Church has the following paragraph: "At Collace, the Revd Andrew Bonar - whose photograph hangs in our church vestry - was one of the "breakaway" ministers of 1843. He and his new congregation astablished Collace Free Church, building what is now the Kinrossie Village Hall as their church and a manse, now Bonarwood on the A94 at the Kinrossie turnoff." The cover photograph is of Dunsinnane Hill. |
 |
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This page created 30 May 2001- Updated 9
February 2006
With thanks to my husband
A.L.Newble who took some of the photographs.