Langholm’s first ‘Parish Kirk’ was built in the centre of the Old Town in 1703 and was reconstructed in 1747, then again in 1779. The third building could seat 800 people but was damp, cold, had an earth floor and was difficult to access for the infirm, being up a steep incline. A new neo-Gothic building was constructed in 1846 across the river, next to the New Town.

Much of the former church’s stonework was used for other buildings, until little more than the belfry and a gable were left. The bell served the purpose of providing an alarm when there was a fire in town.

The Parish Church also had a separate facility, the Mission Hall, on the Old Town side of the river, built in 1885. It was used as Red Cross Hospital during the Great War, opening in … 1914 and run by Lady Ewart.

The minister in 1915 was Rev James Buchanan, born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire to a coal pithead labourer. He was appointed in 1879 at age 35 and was originally an apprentice law clerk before joining the ministry.

The church was installed with a fine Willis pipe organ and had a paid organist and choirmaster, Charles Metcalfe. Born in Carlisle, he was a professor of music in London before moving to Langholm in 1893, the same year as the installation of the organ. His father William was an organist for Trinity Church, Carlisle, and had musical associations with Langholm.

In the photo below, Rev James Buchanan is at the centre. On the right is Charles Metcalfe and on the left is Alexander Milligan, Sunday School superintendent and a mill worker.

A church memorial lists 58 names of those in the congregation who lost their lives in the Great War.

The church ministers were:

• William Berry Shaw, minister 1812-1856.
  • Friend of disruption leader Thomas Chalmers, after whom Langholm’s United Free Church (‘Chalmers Church’) was named.
• James Macturk, minister 1856-1878.
• James Buchanan, minister 1879-1921.
• William Lindsay, minister 1922-1942.
• James Cottar.
• Tom Calvert.