|
Admin
history |
It is believed that a church dedicated to St Michael has served as the parish church of Dumfries for around 1300 years, standing, in common with other churches with this dedication, upon a mound near a river. At the beginning of the 12th century, King William the Lion of Scotland conferred the church and its dependent chapel (dedicated to St Thomas a Becket) upon Kelso Abbey. The gate (or port) by St Michael's was the southernmost entry to the town by which the access was gained by the not infrequent English invading parties up until the middle of the 16th century so the building was probably despoiled several times. Although it is likely that the reformer, John Knox, preached in St Michael's on the eve of the Reformation, there is a tradition that the last High Mass in Scotland was celebrated in St Michael's in its aftermath. A church bell survives from 1443 and the present bell dates from 1451, having been recast twice in the interval. During the Covenanting period, the minister of St Michael's, Rev William Veitch, was ousted and suffered much persecution for his adherence to the Covenanting cause. |