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Dates of existence
History
There has been a congregation at St Mungo's since long before the Reformation with a chapel dedicated to St Mungo existing in Alloa since the 14th century. Following the Reformation, the church’s first minister was Reverend James Duncanson.
Originally, Alloa was in the parish of Clackmannan, but during the 14th century it was disjoined and became attached to the Diocese of Dunblane with the parishes of Tullibody and Alloa uniting in 1600. After the union of the United Free Church and the Church of Scotland, the church was more frequently known as Alloa St Mungo's in order to distinguish it from other Alloa churches. It has also been known at various times as Alloa Parish Kirk, the Established Kirk or the Auld Kirk.
The congregation moved to the site at Bedford Place, Alloa, in 1819, where they still worship today under the Reverend Sang Yoon Cha. The new church building, an early Neo-Gothic design, was built due to state of disrepair of the previous building; the danger of falling masonry meant that services had to be held outdoors wherever possible. Architect James Gillespie Graham and builders John Smith and Ramsay Traquair (all of Alloa) undertook the contract in 1816 and the church was opened on 20 Jun 1819 with a capacity to seat over 1500 members; today the figure is 600-700. The current land of the church was gifted to the congregation by John Francis Erskine, who later became the seventh Earl of Mar, on the condition that the land never be used as a burial ground. Stones from the Auld Kirk were used in the building of the Bedford Place church in order to cut costs and engravings can be seen on the brocks that indicate they had been used in a different building beforehand. Additions to the church were made in 1936-37 with the costs being absorbed by public subscription. The details of the reconstruction are detailed in Reverend Pitt Watson’s book ‘A Reconstruction of St Mungos’, however, the onset of war meant much of the work was left unfinished until 1967 under the supervision of Reverend Peter Brodie.
In 1927, the church bought a nearby building and converted it into what was known as the St. Mungo’s Halls, but the property was later sold in 1994 due to the cost of renovation.
Places
Alloa, Clackmannanshire
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Rules and/or conventions used
ISAAR(CPF): International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families, International Council on Archives (2nd edition, 2003); Rules for the construction of personal, place and corporate names, National Council on Archives (1997)
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Created 15 Dec 2020, Revised 23 Feb 2022