The North UF Church was sometimes referred to as the Townhead Church, due to its position at the head (north) of the town. It was originally known as the Secession Church, then the United Secession Congregation, then the North UP (United Presbyterian), before the UP denomination merged with much of the Free Church to become the United Free Church. It was then the North UF until it merged with the South UF in 1925 and became the Erskine Church, after Ebenezer Erskine, one of the leaders of the First Secession in 1733.

The formation of the congregation dates back to 1786, which met initially in the open air. The building in the photo below was their third in that location and was completed in 1867. Part of it was badly damaged in 1904 in a fire.

Rev George Orr was appointed its minister in 1892. He was an active individual who co-founded the Eskdale and Liddesdale Archaeological Society and founded the Townhead Literary Society, and was the local treasurer for the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. He excelled in philosophy and English literature at university in Glasgow, his home city, and married Helen McEwan, the daughter of the minister of Hope Park Church in Edinburgh, where he did his first placement. His second placement was as assistant to Rev William Ballantyne in Langholm in August 1892 who died three months later and was succeeded by Orr.