Administrative History | These papers are a collection of Inverness Presbytery and Kirk Session records kept by the Old High Church Inverness. Inverness Kirk Session was split into separate charges. The first charge for Inverness and Bona was the Old High Church. A second charge was established in 1624 and the West church was erected in 1835 to accommodate this. A third charge was later set up for Gaelic services in 1641 and in 1649 St Mary's Church was erected to serve as the place of Gaelic worship. A chapel of ease was set up, known as the East Church, in 1798 but seceded to the Free Church in 1843. St Stephen's Church was a quoad sacra parish (ecclesiastical parish as opposed to civil) that united with the Old High Church in 2003. Inverness Presbytery was overseer for many Kirk Sessions outwith Inverness Burgh hence this collection contains papers of the Kirk Sessions of Daviot and Dunlichity; Dores, Kiltarlity, Kirkhill, Moy and Petty.
Inverness and Bona Joint Kirk Session had many responsibilities in addition to its ecclesiastical functions including administering poor relief prior to the Poor Law Act 1845; managing Dunbar's Hospital, Church Street; provision of parochial education and governing various trusts and properties in Inverness. |