Bolton Parish Church

Parish church
name = Bolton Parish Church


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denomination = Church of Scotland
tradition = Reformed
parish = Bolton and Saltoun
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presbytery = Lothian
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minister = Revd Malcolm Lyon
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website = [http://www.ndhm.org.uk www.ndhm.org.uk]
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Bolton Parish Church is a church in Bolton, East Lothian, Scotland. It is part of the Church of Scotland and (along with Saltoun Parish Church) serves the parish of Bolton and Saltoun.

History and features of the church

The earliest church at Bolton was erected in around 1240. It was placed under the superiority of the Canons of Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, and remained so for the next three hundred years. By 1804 the church had fallen into disrepair and the heritors agreed that something must be done. [Louden, Revd George, "Bolton Parish Church", Bolton, 1979: p2]

In January 1805 the heritors met and decided that a new church should be built instead of repairing the old one, and that the new church should be capable of containing 250 people. By the end of 1809 the new church was built. In 1930 the pulpit was moved to its present position at the side of the East window, the choir was removed and other changes were made. In 1957 a central aisle was introduced and this further reduced the seating.

In the church porch is a Victorian "graveguard", a contrivance designed to thwart body-snatchers who sought to steal from the graveyard newly buried corpses for sale to the medical schools in Edinburgh. [Louden, Revd George, 1979: p4] The graveguard and its accessories are on display in the church porch.

Buried under the church's aisles are the Lords Blantyre and the Stuarts of Eaglescairnie. [Martine, John, "Fourteen Parishes of the County of Haddington", Edinburgh, 1890: p39]

A notable possession of Bolton Church is the Bolton Hearse, a horse-drawn vehicle believed to be the earliest surviving piece of Scottish coachwork still in existence. The hearse is kept in the Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh.

ee also

*Saltoun Parish Church
*List of Church of Scotland parishes
*List of places in East Lothian

References

External links

* [http://www.ndhm.org.uk/ Bolton and Saltoun Church website]