A Brief History

The congregation of St Catherine’s Argyle came into existence in 1968 on the union of St Catherine’s-in-Grange and Argyle Place churches.

St Catherine’s-in-Grange, the building currently used for worship, was the older of the two churches opening in 1866 as Chalmers Memorial Free Church.  There was, however, a long debate stretching back to 1859 by which time the Grange had become a favourite suburb of Edinburgh.

The first minister was Rev Dr Horatius Bonar, the famous hymn-writer.  The church was generally known as Grange Free and in 1900, on the union of the Free Church and the United Presbyterian Church, it became Grange United Free Church.  On the historic union in 1929 it became St Catherine’s-in-Grange Church of Scotland.

Argyle Place Church started its existence as a congregation of the United Presbyterian Church and, throughout the unions of 1900 and 1929, it retained the name.

In 1967 the minister of St Catherine’s-in-Grange, Rev Dr Thomas Maxwell, then Convener of the Church of Scotland’s Church and Nation Committee, died suddenly in the STV studios in Glasgow leaving a vacancy.  In October of that year, the Kirk Session of Argyle Place resolved to approach St Catherine’s with a view to union.  Ultimately the union took place in June 1968 and the Rev John Ross, minister of Argyle Place, became the first minister of St Catherine’s Argyle.

The Argyle Place building was used as the place of worship and the former St Catherine’s-in-Grange buildings were converted into halls for community use.  In March 1974 Mr Ross made known his intention to retire at the end of November. 

In June 1974 catastrophe struck whilst the church was being redecorated. Fire broke out completely destroying the roof and ultimately the building had to be destroyed.  Meanwhile the congregation moved into the halls of the former St Catherine’s.