200th anniversary of the Preaching Cave

On Sunday June 8th at 3.30pm, Rev Angus Adamson will lead a service in the Preaching Cave in the cliff in Kilpatrick. All are welcome, but there is limited car parking at Kilpatrick itself, so those who would like to come are invited to meet at the car park at the Kinloch Hotel, Blackwaterfoot, by 2:30pm to walk the mile along the coastal path to the cave.

The warm, dry cave became known as the Preaching Cave for a solid historic reason. In 1814, the minister at Kilmory Church died. The congregation wanted Angus Macmillan from Lochranza as their new minister, but the Duke of Hamilton over-ruled them and appointed the Rev Dugald Crawford. After one sermon, most of the congregation went on strike. Led by a farmer preacher called William McKinnon, they met each Sunday in the cave called Uamh Mhor, which ever afterwards became known as the Preaching Cave. It was a foretaste of the Great Disruption, which resulted in the formation of the Free Church of Scotland 25 years later.

When Rev Dugald Crawford was drowned off Pladda, the congregation returned to Kilmory church, but the cave went on being used as the local school until 1843, because it was warmer and less draughty than any of the village buildings. The school-in-a-cave had an outstanding teacher called Peter Craig, who produced many fine scholars.

Rev Angus Adamson said, ‘This will be a good way to celebrate Pentecost Sunday, which is the birthday of the church. We will have a mixture of the old and the new.’ He went on to say that though life is very different now from what it was 200 years ago, ‘We’ll be coming with the same sense of expectancy that this cave will be a place of encounter and spiritual refreshment.’

For more information please here or contact John Kerr.
Tel: 01770 860 498. email: kerrjh@btinternet.com.