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history |
The church of Peterugie, or Peterhead, as it was more commonly known after c. 1600, was dedicated to St Peter in 1132 and was appropriated to the Cistercian Abbey of Deer before the Reformation. This meant that the abbot and convent of Deer held the parsonage and its teinds and that the parish was served not by a parson but by a vicar, appointed by the abbot and convent to officiate at the kirk in their place. Post-Reformation ministry at Peterhead is recorded from 1567 in the person of Gilbert Chisholm. The old kirk building, the ruins of which can still be seen in the kirkyard, was replaced by a new building erected in 1770. Owing to defective foundations or a structural failing this building was condemned within 30 years of its construction and was subsequently replaced in 1806 when the present church, sometimes called the 'Muckle Kirk' was completed. The parish of Peterhead was considerably reduced in size in 1641, when its western parts were disjoined to form the parish of Longside. Peterhead kirk session, once within the Presbytery of Deer and Synod of Aberdeen, is now in the Presbytery of Buchan. East Peterhead opened as an extension church in 1834, and was taken over by the Free Church in 1843. The East parish became disjoined from the main parish in 1877. |