The striking and somewhat peculiar octagonal building next to St. Andrew’s
Parish Church, has been a familiar landmark to many generations of Dundonians.
Its existence stretches from the latter part of the 18th Century, to the
beginning of the 20th, and it may thus lay claim to be one of the oldest of the
ecclesiastical buildings of the City. It saw the birth of the Glasite movement,
and witnessed its flourishing period of the 18th Century. The followers of the
old Parish Minister of Tealing now number comparatively few, and they show
little sign of decreasing. At one time it was an influential body in Dundee, and
played an important part in the religious history of the City. Some of the
leading families belonged to it, and there are still many Dundonians whose
parents or Grandparents were proud of their membership of the ‘Kail Kirk’ as it
was popularly called, from the practice of worshippers dining together between
the services on Sundays.
Development
With the development of the Wellgate Centre complex, it became obvious that when
all adjacent buildings disappeared, St. Andrew’s Church and the Kail Kirk would
be seen to be so close, that our possession of the latter would be common sense.
So in 1973 it was proposed that the Glasite Church would be conveyed to the
Church Trustees without payment, on the basis that the Church would restore the
building internally and externally, and maintain it in use as part of the new
hall complex, and so St. Andrew’s inherited the ‘Auld Kail Kirk’.