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In 1835, the minister of the Relief Church in Dumfries, Mr Andrew Fyfe, and the majority of his congregation petitioned, successfully, to rejoin the Church of Scotland but the remaining members of the Relief congregation refused to transfer their loyalty to the church by State appointed and, furthermore, refused to relinquish the church and manse buildings. The transferring portion of the congregation, therefore, set about fund raising and, within a few months, had accumulated £2,520 with which to build a new church. They obtained for this purpose the raised plot which had reputedly served as the town's place of execution in the earlier middle ages and where King Robert the Bruce's brother-in-law, Sir Christopher Seton, had been put to death by the English during the War of Independence. A chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, had subsequently been built there in his memory and this had come to be known as the Crystal Chapel from his name, Sir 'Chrystal' Seton. |