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Churches of the British Isles

Gallery: Churches of Dumfries & Galloway

by Peter Kessler, 6 May 2020

Dumfries & Galloway Part 1: Churches of Challoch to Wigtown

All Saints Scottish Episcopal Church, Challoch, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland

All Saints Scottish Episcopal Church, Challoch, stands at the north-west corner of the B7027 and A714 junction. The church was built in 1871-1872 to a design by the architects, Habbershon & Pate of Bloomsbury, London. It originally served as the private chapel of Mr Edward James Stopford-Blair of Penninghame House. On his death in 1885, in his will, he bequeathed the church and rectory buildings to the diocese of Glasgow and Galloway. Today it is a Grade A listed building.

Monigaff Old Church, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland

The ruins of Monigaff Old Church (or Minnigaff Church on old OS maps) occupy land on the western side of the Penkiln Burn, accessed from Cumloden Road about thirty-five metres north of the Old Minnigaff junction. A church existed on this site by 1209, although two cross slabs in the churchyard, apparently headstones, can be dated to the eleventh century. Practically nothing is known of the building's subsequent history other than its abandonment in 1836.

Monigaff Parish Church, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland

Monigaff Parish Church stands to the north of the old church (see above), separated from it by much of the churchyard. Beyond the old church is the mound of a former motte and bailey castle. The church was built in 1836 to a Gothic Revival design by William Burn. The old church was abandoned when it opened. Stained glass windows are by Wailes of Newcastle and Ballantine of Edinburgh, amongst others, and William Stewart's sarcophagus is also here.

Penninghame Saint John's Church, Newton Stewart, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland

Penninghame Saint John's Church, Newton Stewart, is on the western side of Church Street, overlooking the eastwards Victoria Lane junction. Prior to the Reformation it was St Ninian's church of Penninghame, in the possession of the archdeacon of Galloway. In 1777 it was taken down and moved from Penninghame to its present location in Newton Stewart, and in 1838 it was rebuilt into its present cruciform Gothic form by architect William Burn.

Wigtown Parish Church, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland

Wigtown Parish Church is on the east side of Church Lane, at the eastern edge of the town. Prior to the Reformation it belonged to Whitern Priory and was dedicated to St Machuit. That early church building was replaced in 1850 by the present one on a nearby site. The ruins of the old church still survive. Following the 1929 union of the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church, Wigtown's church welcomed the congregation of the former Wigtown West UF church.

Wigtown Roman Catholic Chapel, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland

Wigtown Roman Catholic Chapel sits on the southern side of South Main Street. Formally entitled Sacred Hearth Catholic Chapel, is a simple brick-built Gothic church that consists of a nave and apse, to an 1879 design by J Garden Brown. The door sits within a shallow gabled porch, the line echoing the line of the gable. Since 1998, Wigtown Baptist congregation has been worshipping in the former Roman Catholic school in Southfield Lane, directly behind this chapel.

All photos on this page kindly contributed by Douglas Law via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group. Additional information by Douglas Law.

 

 

     
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