About the church

In January 2004, the congregations of St Mary's and Greyfriars' churches in Dumfries merged and this union is now also part of a linkage with Caerlaverock church. St Mary's-Greyfriars' is situated on St Mary's Street (opposite the Cairndale Hotel) in an elevated position. It is a historic building with a long tradition of worship. Across the street there is an excellent, newly refurbished church hall which hosts many social events and is home to several local groups.

We are a Church of Scotland congregation with a specific Christian care and mission responsibility to the homes, schools, nursing homes, businesses and environment of our parish. Our parish extends between Annan Road and Lockerbie Road (with their surrounding streets), Greenbrae, Noblehill, Gasstown, Brownrigg and Marchmount and takes in the part of Dumfries town centre between Newall Terrace and English Street along Hood's Loaning to Morrisons and up Brooms Road to Millburn Avenue and Annan Road.

We are a diverse people who are joined together by a common shared desire to know God more. From our teaching and our experience we have found that through Jesus Christ we can have a deeper relationship with God. We have also found that God keeps this deeper relationship live with the connecting power of His Holy Spirit in and around us.

The church meets together regularly for worshipping God. We hope that our songs and hymns are worshipful to God and encourage one another in faith. The ministry is Bible-based with a keen ear on what God was trying to communicate when the Bible was first written, and what he is trying to say to us today. We hope that our ministry is honouring of God and encourages stronger relationships with him, with one another and with our world.

We have found that God has called us into community, so we meet together often to socialise, to eat together, drink coffee, talk and share every day life with one another. We have a wide range of social events and groups that meet in our halls including coffee mornings, youth groups, music and art.

The site of the present church was originally Hangman's Hill where King Robert the Bruce's brother-in-law, Sir Christopher Seton, was hanged for supporting his relative. Bruce's sister, Christiana, later had a small chapel erected in his memory (traditionally dedicated to St Mary, although some say to the Holy Rood). It later became known as St Christopher's Chapel, and eventually The Chrystal Chapel. All that remains is the small stone pillar at the top of the steps from the street.

The present building was built for the sum of £2520 and opened on 12th November 1839. It contains a fine pipe organ built by Harrison and Harrison of Durham in 1884, and a large stained-glass window at the east end, erected in December 1896 in memory of Sir James Anderson Kt. who captained the steamship "Great Eastern", (designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel), which laid the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable in 1866.

The hall across the road was built around 1900 thanks to the efforts of the Minister Rev Alexander Chapman, who together with other members of the congregation organised a series of fund raising activities. He was also responsible for the formation in November 1886, of the St Mary s Woman's Guild, now known as The Guild.

In the middle of the 13th century, a convent or friary of the Franciscan order of Greyfriars', (because of the colour of their habit), was founded by Lady Devorgilla, wife of John Baliol. Later the Town Council bought the nearby site of the old Maxwell's Castle, and to meet a growing population; built the New Church which opened in 1727. This fell into disrepair and was replaced in 1868 by a Gothic Revival style Greyfriars' Church with a tapered spire and splendid stained-glass windows.

Greyfriars' Church served for many years as the garrison church of the local battalion of the King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) and houses for safe-keeping the laid-up Regimental colours. The future of the building, at present vacant, has yet to be determined.

The histories and traditions of the two churches made it natural and appropriate that the two should come together in voluntary union. We have now called our first minister and united as one we look forward to a future of serving God in all the possibilities he puts our way. Pray with us that he will direct our paths and that we will be awake and willing enough to follow him.