(Note – in the above left image the clock had yet to be installed)
12th Century: First evidence of a church of Dalziel tells us it was the property of the Abbey of Paisley. In the 13th century the church was transferred to the Canons of the Cathedral of Glasgow as a common church. The congregation was Roman Catholic then. The plain Gothic building was beside the old kirkyard (“White Walk” down from the RSPB Baron’s Haugh car park) and the manse was a “but & ben”. The church building was probably contemporary with Glasgow Cathedral and was dedicated to St. Patrick.
1560: After the Reformation, the titles of the parish were given by Queen Mary to the College of Glasgow thereafter at the beginning of the 17th century the titles fell into the hands of the Hamilton family who were patrons of the parish until patronage was abolished by act of Parliament in 1874.
1591: The first ordained Presbyterian minister in Dalziel seems to have been Alexander Rowatt, A.M. He stayed a short time and there seems to have been some difficulty getting a minister for such a poor living and long vacancies ensued.
1644: David Mayne A.M. was appointed Minister and session records started to be kept. (These records are now in the National Archives of Scotland)
1661- 70 Covenanters: John Lauder minister expelled from the parish for not conforming with the Bishops. There is a tradition that John Lauder secretly visited the parish and preached to his people from the “Covenanter’s Oak” now in front of Dalziel House. 1670 John Lauder returns to the parish ministry.
1673: The Kirk Session provided a school and made provision for a schoolmaster. To provide a living for the schoolmaster he was given a multiplicity of jobs: Session Clerk, Schoolmaster,Precentor, Kirk Officer, and Maker of Graves.
1697: Poor relief: An attempt was made by the Kirk Session and the Laird of Dalzell to make better provision for the relief of the poor. The congregation was encouraged to double or triple their giving so that the destitute did not trouble private families. This did not produce a satisfactory result therefore the Kirk Session consulted the congregation and they were in favour of a stent. According to an Act of Parliament the heritors (Laird of Dalzell) would pay half and each plough of land 10/- Scotts per month. This is the first instance of people being consulted and heritors rated.
1718: The west gable of the old church had to be taken down and rebuilt. This must have been very expensive as James Hamilton of Dalzell was awarded “one hundreth and fourtie punds in consideration of the great expense he had been att in building the west gable of the kirk and building a convient school an house and yeard for the maister.”
1723: New Communion cups purchased at the cost of 10 pounds 10 shillings engraved “ Communion Cupps For Church of Dalziel, Mr Alexander Adamson Being Minister.” These cups were buried during the 1745 rebellion to keep them from been carried off by the Jacobites. These cups are still in use today.
1789: Robert Clason minister, the small gothic church became ruinous and it was thought best to build a new Parish Church on a site at a more central location at the south end of the village of Windmillhill. (This church was later enlarged to form the recently closed South Dalziel Parish Church). The old Gothic church was taken down and the stones used for an extension to the manse and to build the Mausoleum for the Hamiltons’.
1843: The Disruption: at the union of the parliaments in 1707, The Church of Scotland was promised freedom to order its own affairs. However Queen Anne reimposed the right of the state to lay down laws for the church including the right of landowners to impose a minister on a congregation. This lead to splits in the church and the formation of new denominations and churches. The minister at Dalziel Parish left the established church and a Dalziel free church was built on the current Gospel Literature Outreach site (GLO). Services continued in Dalziel Parish Church (Windmillhill) with a new minister.
1874: As Motherwell expanded with new industries, a new Parish church was opened (8th November 1874) in Merry Street; the current Dalziel St Andrew’s Parish Church. The church was designed by architect David Thomson of Glasgow, seats 913 and has a steeple 132ft high (40m). Sir John Watson (coal master) of Earnock and Neisland gave a 4 faced illuminated clock and 18cwt. (914kg) bell to the church. The beadle had to ring the bell at 05.30, 18.00 and 22.00 each working day paid for by the Town Council. The building is now B listed.
1897: Extension to Dalziel Parish Church; new suit of halls, anterooms and church officer flat.
1900: Union of Free and United Presbyterian Churches to form Dalziel United Free Church
1904: First satellite church of Dalziel opened as St. Andrew’s Church (7th October 1904). Designed by Architect Alexander Cullen. Now Calvary Church.
1915: Dalziel United Free Church replaced in Byzantine style copied from Sancta Sophia Istanbul; the present structure of the GLO.
1929: Dalziel United Free Church joins the established Church of Scotland; renamed Dalziel North Parish Church. Dalziel Parish Church renamed Dalziel High.
1963: New hall added to Dalziel High Church.
1970: Union of Dalziel High and Dalziel North Churches renamed Dalziel Parish Church.
1990/91: New manse built in church grounds.
1996: Dalziel Parish Church and St. Andrew’s Parish Church unite to form Dalziel St. Andrew’s Parish Church. St. Andrew’s church building sold to Calvary church.