| The present congregation is a
unique combination of different strands of Scottish church tradition.
Its origins can be traced back for centuries but it was not until
1980, after a somewhat complex series of unions of different congregations,
that it took its present form.
Ednam
There has been a church at Ednam since the eleventh century and
worship according to the practice of the Established Church has
continued uninterrupted there ever since. The foundation charter
of the Parish of Ednam is the earliest document of its type in existence
and is in the library of Durham Cathedral. A framed copy hangs on
the west wall of the Church
Kelso North
The Parish of Kelso was for generations centred upon Kelso Abbey,
part of which was used as the Parish Church until the latter part
of the eighteenth century. The first of three secessions from Parish
Church occurred in 1753 and each of them resulted in the creation
of a separate congregation with its own meeting place or church.
Two of them subsequently merged and over a century later built Trinity
Church at the foot of Bowmont Street. The other erected Edenside
Church in The Horsemarket. Both Churches were part of the United
Presbyterian Church.
Early in the nineteen century population changes meant that new
parishes were needed, and in 1837, the Parish of Kelso North came
into being. A new building, the North Parish Church, was erected
in Inch Road and the first Minister was the Revd Horatius Bonar,
'The Prince of Scottish Hymn Writers'.
With the disruption in 1843, over a third of the ministers and members
of the Church of Scotland broke away to form the Free Church of
Scotland (later merging with the United Presbyterian Church to form
the United Free Church). Included in their number were Horatius
Bonar and his entire congregation.
The North Parish Church in Inch Road had in consequence to be returned
to the Church of Scotland and was in due course demolished. A new
Church, Kelso North Free Church, was built in Roxburgh Street and
opened in 1866. This is our church building today. Forty years later
the congregation joined with Sprouston Free Church to become St
John's United Free Church.
In 1932, shortly after the Union of the Church of Scotland and the
United Free Church (1929), the congregation of Edenside was united
with St John's to become St John's-Edenside. Edenside Church was
sold and for many years was used as the Roxy Cinema but soon may
see a change. In 1952, the Parish of Ednam ceased to be a viable
unit, mainly because of rural depopulation, and the congregation
was united with St John's-Edenside and Ednam. In the meantime, the
congregation of the North Parish Church in Inch Road was merged
in 1941 with Trinity Church to form Trinity North. As a result of
a reorganisation of parishes in 1980, Trinity North was in turn
united that year with St John's Edenside and Ednam to form the present
congregation of the Parish of Kelso North and Ednam. The Trinity
North Church building in Bowmont Street was sold for secular purposes
and the site in Inch Road is still in use for commercial purposes
and as a public car park.
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