[1612/10/34]¹

Act for translating of the kirk of Gullane to Dirleton

Our sovereign lord and three estates of this present parliament, understanding and being credibly informed that the kirk of Gullane is situated at the outside of the whole parish thereof, which is a great parish, and is so incommodiously situated beside the seashore that the same, with the kirkyard thereof, is continually overblown with sand, that neither the kirk serves commodiously for convening of the parishioners nor yet the kirkyard for their burial, besides many other inconveniences preventing the said parishioners in time of storm and unseasonable weather to convene at the said kirk; and considering likewise that the town of Dirleton is a flourishing town and lies within the said parish of Gullane within the midst thereof, and it is the will and intention of the whole parishioners of the said kirk of Gullane that the same kirk be transported from the said town of Gullane to the said town of Dirleton, as well for the ease and commodity of the parishioners as of the minister serving the cure at the said kirk, therefore it is thought fit and expedient by our said sovereign lord and estates foresaid that a kirk and kirkyard be erected and built within the said town of Dirleton for serving the whole parishioners of the kirk foresaid; and to that effect it is statute and ordained by this act that it shall be permissible to his highness's right trusty cousin and councillor Thomas [Erskine], viscount of Fenton, lord Dirleton etc., to demolish and cast down the said kirk of Gullane and to transport the stones, whole timber work and other materials thereof to the said town of Dirleton for building of a new kirk within the same, providing the said viscount obtain the consent thereto of the presbytery within the which the said kirk of Gullane lies, and the consent of the parishioners thereof or of the most part of them; and that in the meantime the said viscount find and furnish a sufficient house and place within the said town of Dirleton where the word may be preached and the sacraments administered to the said parishioners, until the said kirk be sufficiently built and finished.