page_title: Kilmacolm
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: Kilmacolm / Religion
caption_attribution_description: English: The Old Kirk, en:Kilmacolm's (en:Church of Scotland) parish church. Also visible on the left is the en:church hall, known as the Kidston Hall. Taken from here. Photograph by Thomas Nugent.
context_page_description: Kilmacolm is a village and civil parish in the Inverclyde council area, and the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on the northern slope of the Gryffe Valley, 7 ¹⁄₂ miles south-east of Greenock and around 15 miles west of the city of Glasgow. The village has a population of around 4,000 and is part of a wider civil parish which covers a large rural hinterland of 15,000 hectares containing within it the smaller settlement of Quarrier's Village, originally established as a 19th-century residential orphans' home.
  The area surrounding the village was settled in prehistoric times and emerged as part of a feudal society with the parish divided between separate estates for much of its history. The village itself remained small, providing services to nearby farm communities and acting as a religious hub for the parish. The name of the village derives from the Scottish Gaelic Cill MoCholuim, indicating the dedication of its church to St Columba. The parish church was mentioned in a papal bull of 1225 showing its subservience to Paisley Abbey, and it sits on the site of an ancient religious community dating to the 5th or 6th centuries.
context_section_description: The Christian religion has had a significant impact in Kilmacolm's history. It was the site where John Knox performed what was possibly the first Protestant communion in Scotland. One of Samuel Rutherford's letters give a flavour of the parish in 1639. Kilmacolm was also a centre for Covenanters. The town was also known for the "Kilmacolm Preachings" reportedly often accompanied by drinking and 'riotous behaviour'.
  There are currently two congregations of the presbyterian Church of Scotland, one Episcopal church which is part of the Anglican Communion and one Roman Catholic Church in the village. A further Church of Scotland congregation meets in Quarrier's Village.
  The Parish Church, known as the "Old Kirk", is ancient in origin. Its chancel dates back to the 13th century and is incorporated into the modern structure, built in 1830 as a replacement for a structurally unsound 16th century main building, as the Murray Chapel.
  In 1858, a number of the Parish's inhabitants broke away to form a United Presbyterian church in what had until recently been the abandoned Reformed Presbyterian Church. In 1868 the Church of St James was constructed on the site which now houses the Royal Bank of Scotland branch and lends its name to the town's main shopping terrace. There are no remains of this church today.
  The congregation of St James's Church planned a new building in 1900, which was completed in 1903. This new Church of St James united with St Columba's Church, which was formed in the 1870s following another schism within the Church of Scotland. This former St Columba's Church stood on Bridge of Weir Road, and is recorded as standing in 1907 although the date of its construction is unknown. The magnificent spire and much of the church was demolished in the 1960s, but the main hall still remains and serves as the Kilmacolm Masonic Temple facing onto Glebe Road. The slates from the roof of the old church were used on the roof of "The Glen" being built at that time in Glencairn Road. When the church was demolished and the congregations of St Columba's and St James's united, the former St James's Church where they met was renamed St Columba's Church – recognising the origins of the village name and its relationship with Columba. Through various unions, this church has become part of the Church of Scotland, alongside the "Old Kirk" Parish Church. These Church of Scotland churches form part of the Presbytery of Greenock and Paisley in the Synod of Clydesdale (see: Church of Scotland synods and presbyteries).
  Kilmacolm forms part of the Episcopalian Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway. The Scottish Episcopal Church is a province of the Anglican Communion. It is served by St Fillan's Church on Moss Road and currently shares a Rector with two other nearby Episcopal congregations that together form the Renfrewshire Heartlands Group of churches.
  The village also falls within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paisley and Deanery of Inverclyde. There is one small Roman Catholic church in the village, St Colm's. Dedicated to St Columba, for whom St Colm is an alternative name, the current church building was constructed in 1995.
  The ancient religious settlement of St Fillan's Kirk, Seat and Well lies between Kilmacolm and Houston at the hamlet of Killellan. The St Fillan to which it, and Kilmacolm's Episcopal Church, is dedicated is suggested by the Gazetteer for Scotland as most likely being "Faelan of Cluain Moescna" from Meath in Ireland.
caption: Kilmacolm Parish Church, the "Old Kirk", dating back to the 13th century on an ancient site of worship.
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