Ancient Times: The Start of Trossachs Christianity

Before the likes of St. Columba and St. Augustine, St. Kessog (460-520 A.D.) thought to be a disciple of St. Patrick, came from Ireland to Scotland looking for new areas to convert to Christianity. He started in the lands of Lennox and then made his way up to southern Perthshire. To this present day, many local places of Christian worship have been dedicated and/or named after St. Kessog, as evidenced by St. Kessog’s church in the centre of Callander.

It is likely that St. Kessog was one of, or the person, to bring Christianity to the Trossachs and potentially preached on many spots that we now have present buildings of worship.

Medieval Times: ‘In the Open Air’

During the Medieval period, Trossachs was park of the Kilmahog Parish, where the local church was dedicated to St. Chug and was first recorded in 1239.

Only the burial ground of this parish’s time period remains, with stones dating back to the 1600s.

Over these many centuries in the Trossachs, Christian worship was celebrated in various small buildings that haven’t lasted. More interestingly though, there was a strong tradition of ‘open air preaching’. This was the practice of doing exactly what it sounds like - having services of workshop in the outdoors.

Some notable places of open air preaching in the Trossachs include Tom Na Chessaig “Hill of Chessaig”, situated in the present day Callander Meadows, and Achray, the name of the loch the Trossachs Church is now located on. Depicting what happened there, Achray actually means ‘a field of devotion; a place of devotion in the open air’.

1735: Construction of St. Kessogs

The beautiful St. Kessogs Parish Church was built in Callander with seating for 800 people and with communicants numbering 500.

From Brig o’ Turk to St Kessogs and back was 14 miles, and on a very rough track! This was very impractical for the residents of Loch Katrine, Glen Finglas, and surrounding areas and so they had their own ‘building of sorts’ seating 200 worshippers thought to have been sited near Dundarroch.

1803: The Wordsworths

William and Dorothy Wordsworth toured the Trossachs with Samuel Coleridge. Dorothy penned ‘Recollections of the Trossachs’ while William wrote a sonnet:

1800s - The Tourist Boom

The 19th century saw the beginning of the tourist boom in the Trossachs. The railway as well as disposable income saw the start of the rise of the visitors to the area. Here are some of the notable visitors and their reflections of their time here:

1833-1837: Improving Infrastructure

Celebrity travellers also included Hans Christian Anderson, George Elliot, Jules Verne, John and Effe Ruskin, John Millais, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Other writers, artists, and even royalty also came and the Trossachs became a very fashionable destination (and more affordable than a ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe.

Unfortunately, accommodation, that was already hard to come by, was also considered unfit for such visitors. In 1818 a visitor named Thomas Carlyle stayed at a farm steading called Ardcheanachrochan (Gaelic meaning ‘high end of the rock’) and about the place despairingly wrote… “A dirty, smoky hut with no provisions in it but bad oatcakes and unacceptable whisky.”

The local lairds and gentry were embarrassed about the state of facilities they could offer their affluent friends from the south, and in 1837 the government of the time stated the need for more churches and suitable accommodation in the area. Ardcheanachrochan was replaced by the impressive Trossachs Hotel, designed in a modern, Scottish Baronial style by architect George Kennedy, whose father was a ‘factor’ (land manager) for the Drummond Estates.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)

Was also a frequent visitor to the Trossachs and the local landscape was his inspiration to write many very popular historic and romantic works. His publication of his poem ‘Lady of the Lake’ (1810) sparked tremendous interest in the area.

In 1817, Scott published his own account of the legendary hero ‘Rob Roy’ which continued to popularise and promote the Trossachs as a tourist hot spot.

1843 - National Disruption Felt in the Trossachs

843 was the year of the “Disruption” in the Church of Scotland when dissent arose over the power of the government versus the kirk.

At grass roots levels there was disagreement as to congregations having the right to appoint their own ministers. In 1843, the retiring Moderator at the General Assembly led the revolt, and a third of the ministers walked out with him. They declared Jesus as the head of the church rather than the state being the head of the church. They formed the Free Church of Scotland, a congregation of with was established in Callander for awhile..

A Church for the Trossachs, in the Trossachs

In 1847 the residents of the Trossachs petitioned the Church of Scotland local Presbytery for their own local church so they wouldn’t have to travel the rough 14 minke round trip to the Callander Kirk.

In 1848 the congregational petition was granted. The site, which was part of the Drummond Estate was chosen and gifted by Lord and Lady Willoughby d’Eresby and both gave significant financial support for the church to be built.

The Trossachs Church was designed by Charles Kennedy, the same architect who designed the Trossachs Hotel, as it was Lady Willoughby d’Eresby’s husband was Lord Willoughby, Earl of Ancaster, who had commissioned the Trossachs Hotel.

Lady d’Eresby considered the site for the church to be…