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The congregation of Annan Burgher Church, which sat within the Presbytery of Annandale, was an offshoot from a congregation in existence six miles to the north of Annan in Ecclefechan. In 1800 a request was presented to the Synod asking for help with the building of a church in Annan, the request however was not answered and consequently it was decided to suspend sermon for a time. This suspension continued for a number of years until 1805, when the Ecclefechan church session petitioned the Synod with a request that the members of their congregation resident in Annan be disjoined, as a result 59 people were removed from Ecclefechan and erected into a separate congregation in Annan. Regular supply of sermon was provided in Annan until William Glen, the first minister of Annan Burgher Church, was ordained in 1807, in the previous year a church, which had belonged to the Independents was purchased. A new church was later erected in 1835. In 1846 the second minister of Annan Burgher Church died and during the vacancy which followed this event a union between the Burgher Church and the Relief Church in Annan was effected. For reasons of the aforementioned vacancy, and also financial difficulties that were being experienced by Annan Relief Congregation, the Presbytery of Annandale took the initial steps towards uniting the two congregations in 1847. After much discussion it was agreed by both charges, on 21 March 1848, that they should be united and with almost immediate effect the united congregation came into being as the Annan United Presbyterian Church. Worship took place in the former Burgher church and Robert Gardiner, the first minister of the congregation, was ordained in 1849. Following the union of the United Presbyterian Church and the Free Church of Scotland in 1900, Annan United Presbyterian was renamed Annan Erskine United Free Church and upon the 1929 union between the United Free Church of Scotland and the Free Church of Scotland, Annan Erskine United Free became Annan Erskine Church of Scotland. In 1974 a union was established between the congregations of Annan Erskine and Annan St Andrew's Greenknowe, under the name of Annan St Andrew's Greenknowe-Erskine. The united congregation was later re-titled Annan St Andrew's and the charge sits under the jurisdiction of the Presbytery of Annandale and Eskdale. |