page_title: Old West Kirk
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Old West Kirk / Original location and layout / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: he Old West Kirk in Greenock; scale model of a 20-gun frigate suspended above the Sailor's loft.
context_page_description: The Old West Kirk of the Church of Scotland, authorised by a 1589 Royal Charter and first opened in 1591, is noted as the first Presbyterian church built in Scotland following the Scottish Reformation, and the first approved by the Parliament of Scotland. At an early stage, east and west aisles were added as transepts, giving the church its cruciform plan.
  Over time, the town of Greenock grew around the church, which was enlarged and had galleries added to accommodate the congregation. From 1761 other churches were built to serve the growing population, and in 1841 the Old West Kirk was closed when the congregation moved to a new West Kirk. The old kirk gradually became derelict, then it was heavily restored and reopened on Christmas Day 1864. The architect James Salmon supervised the works and added a tower, and the church subsequently incorporated a major collection of Pre-Raphaelite stained glass windows.
  Shipyards developed between the churchyard and the Clyde, and in 1917 Harland and Wolff began negotiations to enlarge their yard over the churchyard.
context_section_description: A fishing community settled near the kirk, with Rue End to the east referring to the "row end" of an early row of cottages: the 1654 Blaeu Atlas of Scotland shows "Grinok toune". 
  Around this time, a curved dyke near the Crawfurd house at Cartsburn formed the first harbour in the area, and from 1671 the village of Cartsdyke developed at this pier.
  Congregations began to exceed the capacity of the kirk. In 1635, when the parish was extended to include the Easter Greenock lands of Crawfurd of Kilbirnie, the "Laird of Kilburnie" offered to enlarge the south aisle by 22 feet (6.7 m). This had still not been done when a Presbytery meeting in 1657 proposed extending the church to the east, but the Schaw Laird of Greenock objected as the east aisle was "appointed for him, and whereof he had been in continual possession since the erection of the kirk", and protested at the proposed expense to his tenants. In 1674 Craufurd of Cartsburn offered to bear a proportion of the costs of enlarging the church with sufficient seats for his family and tenants, a new manse, and a school for "training up the young ones". In 1677 there was agreement for the Lairds of Greenock to fund expanding the north and south aisles, while Thomas Craufurd was to fund extending the west aisle; "the side walls and gavels to be the height and breadth of the auld building. The pulpit to be placed in the west corner of the south aisle."
  About 1696 the west (Carts-burn) aisle and north gable were extended by 15 feet (4.6 m), and the south gable by 10 feet (3.0 m), so the cruciform church was now overall about 74 feet (23 m) from north to south, and 63 feet (19 m) over the transepts. A new two storey extension was built at north side of the Schaw aisle, with Sir John Schaw's retiring room on the first floor. The ground floor, with open arches supported on a pillar, was used as a mortuary.
  Lofts (or galleries) with nearly level floors were added above the main ground floor; permission was given on 9 December 1697 to build the Sailors' Loft above the south aisle, which then had the only stair inside the church. The Farmer's Loft was built above the north aisle, and the west gallery was the Cartsburn Loft. Adjacent to it, a gallery forming the family seat of the Crawfurds of Cartsburn was built against the north wall of their aisle, appearing rather like a four-poster bed. The family seat of James Watt's parents and grandparents was below this gallery. The Schaw east aisle was fully taken up by Sir Michael's gallery which projected out from the wall and had two oak pillars and two pilasters holding up a canopy over something like three private boxes. A sixth small gallery containing three pews extended from this gallery to the Farmer's Loft. At this time the church had seven doors, including gallery doors which led to external stairs. When Schaw's retiring room was converted into the vestry, it still had access only through the east aisle gallery, so the minister had to go outside, down the external stair and round to a ground floor door near the pulpit. 
  Greenock was boosted by the construction of its harbour in 1710, and the growth of shipbuilding began when John Scott's started building fishing boats on the east bank of the West Burn a year later. By 1729 there were proposals to build a second church for the increasing population: from 1741 services were held in a large loft in the Royal Close, near Rue-End street. In 1758 work began in Cathcart Square on the Mid Kirk, which opened in 1761. At this time, the original church became known as the Old Parish Church, and later the West Parish Church. From 1774, more churches followed. 
  The walls of the West church were raised by about 3.5 feet (1.1 m) in 1767, prior to renewal of the roof.  A new Manse to the west was feued in 1787. In the 1790s the pews were square.
caption: Scale model of a 20-gun frigate suspended above the Sailor's loft.
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