page_title: Collessie
section_title: The Church
hierarchical_section_title: Collessie / The Church
caption_attribution_description: English: Collessie church, Fife
context_page_description: Collessie is a village and parish of Fife, Scotland. The name derives from Scottish Gaelic but is somewhat obscure in its current form. The first element is either cùl or cùil and the last element could be either eas or lios.
  The village or hamlet is set on a small hillock centred on a historic church. Due to rerouting of roads, it now lies north of the main road, the A91. Though a railway embankment was constructed through the middle of the village in the 19th century, it retains much of its original character, and has a number of traditional 17th-18th century houses. In recent years some of the older houses have been re-roofed in traditional thatch. Collessie in fact probably now has more thatched houses than any other village in the county of Fife.
  The civil parish had a population of 1,921 in 2011.
context_section_description: The church was consecrated by the Bishop of St. Andrews in July 1243. It is mentioned in charters of both 1252 and 1262, and so was complete by those dates.
  Prior to the Reformation, the church was in the ownership of the Abbot of Lindores and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
  In 1742 and 1743 the Rev Hugh Blair was the minister of Collessie.
  The church was remodelled in 1838–39 by R & R Dickson to a T-plan form with a pinnacled western tower, and has remained virtually unchanged since that date. The minister at this point was the Rev John MacFarlane (1798-1875) who served from 1833 but left in the Disruption of 1843. The pulpit is in a central position at the head of the T, as in several Scottish churches such as Currie on the outskirts of Edinburgh. The pews date from 1911 when they were adjusted to a less upright stance to improve comfort. The font dates from 1928.
  The Collessie war memorial is in the east transept. The communion table was brought from Cowlairs Church and was their war memorial.
caption: Collessie church, Fife
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