About us

Cardross Parish Church Profile

LOCATION AND PARISH

Cardross is situated 20 miles west of Glasgow on the banks of the River Clyde, and six miles from the magnificent landscapes of Loch Lomond. Our village has excellent road, rail and bus links to Glasgow city centre. The population of the village is around 2500. Cardross is approximately four miles south-east of Helensburgh.

The parish comprises both social and private housing, with 120 new houses being built in the last ten years. The village is served by a local primary school with nearly 200 children attending, most of whom have been at the local playgroup or private nursery. The village has a number of shops, including a post office, pharmacy, hairdressers and newsagents. Cardross also has a bowling club, tennis club, an 18 hole Golf Course, and village football team.
Cardross Parish Church enjoys strong links with the local Roman Catholic Church, village primary school and wider community.

HISTORY

The Church was first mentioned in 1226 in a Charter of Maldoven, Third Earl of Lennox, which granted the Bishop of Glasgow “the Church of Cardinros, with lands, tiends, fishings and pertinents of every kind, in pure and perpetual alms, to be devoted to the use of the Bishop’s table.” Throughout the centuries, Cardross has always had a church within its parish.

In May 1941, the Church was one of a number of buildings destroyed by heavy bombing. After the war the tower of the bombed church was retained as a War Memorial, and the building in Station Road - opened in January 1872 as a Free Church - was adapted for use as the present Cardross Parish Church.

As a Millennium project, the old Church tower was completely restored and at a Service held on 10th October 1999 was rededicated “to the glory of God, as witness to past faith and future hope.”

Sadly our minister, the Rev Margaret McArthur, retired at the end of July 2025 and we are in vacancy at this moment in time.

BUILDINGS

Church: Our church has been well maintained both internally and externally. As part of the church’s millennium project, additional bells were added to create a full octave. Within our church sanctuary, there are magnificent embroidered panels by Hannah Frew Paterson, silk hangings by Susan Sumsion, depictions of the four seasons by Sadie McLellan, etched Gospel windows by John Lawrie and, most recently, stained glass windows by Susan Bradbury, installed in March 2012 in memory of our late minister, Andrew Scobie. All of these attract many visitors throughout the year.

The church has wheelchair access. Adjacent to the sanctuary, there is a small office, vestry and cloakroom.

Halls: At Cardross we are fortunate to have an excellent suite of halls which were built in the 1950’s and recently extended. The suite of halls contains one large and one small hall, meeting rooms, computer room, kitchens and cloakrooms, and are accessible for wheelchair users. These facilities are [extensively] used by church organisations as well as many village groups. The halls are situated in spacious grounds which are well used by both the congregation and our wider village community.

Manse: Our manse is a large detached modern bungalow located within the conservation area of the village. The manse features spacious and flexible accommodation and comprises of: entrance porch, reception hall with open plan dining room, lounge with feature fireplace, fitted kitchen with integrated fridge and dishwasher, breakfast room off, utility room plumbing for washing machine, 4 double bedrooms, en suite bathroom and shower room. In addition there is a floored loft area and a double brick built garage. The property is in first class condition and has a well maintained garden.

ACTIVITIES AND ORGANISATIONS

Church Organisations

Kirk Session

Messy Church

The Guild

Choir

Communications

‘Focus’ Magazine - a full colour quarterly journal

Website - www.cardrossparishchurch.org

Facebook - www.facebook.com/cardrossparishchurch

Regular elders’ visits

Hall lets / Community links

The village HUB - a community run cafe which is open Monday and Wednesday 10am - 2pm

Badminton

Art Club

Women’s Rural Institute

Playgroup

Fiddlers

Knitting group

Cardross, Colgrain and Craigendoran Senior Citizens’ Group

Ecumenical activities

Annual soup lunch and prayer chain with St Mahew’s RC Church

Mission and Charity

Christian Aid

Kalimpong orphanage

Fairtrade stall

Contact group

Fund-raising coffee mornings, concerts and two fairs per year

 

CHURCH AND WORSHIP

Constitution

The Church operates under the Unitary Constitution, with the Kirk Session and its constituent committees overseeing both civil and ecclesiastical issues. These include everything from property to pastoral care and from finance to vision for the future.

Membership

The membership of the church is 422

Worship

Services currently take place at 11 am each Sunday. Members of the congregation regularly take an active role in assisting with worship by reading prayers and lessons. Sung worship is from CH4 and is led by a congregational choir, under the guidance of the organist and choir-mistress. The Revised English Bible version of the Bible is provided in the pews. Our average attendance is approximately 80. Young people are encouraged to attend the service and a children’s address then given by the minister. The duties of Church Officer are carried out by a team of volunteers.

OUR FUTURE

Like all churches and communities we face challenges, but we passionately believe that these can be viewed as opportunities to move our church forward through the 21st century. Our church has been built up by strong spiritual leadership, generous support and goodwill by successive generations. Both members of the church and the wider community have faced far greater challenges than we face today, and have overcome these, leaving us the rich legacy which we continue to enjoy today.