Willow Acre, Glasgow

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SarahND
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Willow Acre, Glasgow

Post by SarahND » Sun Nov 11, 2007 10:38 pm

Hello all,
I came across a reference in the National Archives to Glasgow: St Andrew's Episcopal Church, Willow Acre

I can't seem to find where Willow Acre is or was. The reference is supposed to include "registers incl baptisms, marriages and burials, minutes and accountsDate range: 1750 - 1932" so St Andrew's must have been around for a long time. Nonetheless, Googling "Willow Acre" Glasgow doesn't come up with much that is of use, except the search result I got it from originally :roll:

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Sarah

apanderson
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Post by apanderson » Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:24 pm

Hi Sarah,

What about trying:

Glasgow & Galloway
Diocesan Centre,
5 St Vincent Place,
Glasgow G1 2DH

Email: office@glasgow.anglican.org

(United Diocese of GLASGOW and GALLOWAY in the Scottish Episcopal Church.)

You never know!!

Anne

AnnieMack
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Willow Acre

Post by AnnieMack » Sun Nov 11, 2007 11:28 pm

http://books.google.com/books?id=3RIEAA ... 6iDvt9sdNg

THis shows a page from a book, it might help narrow it down. The only current church of that name in the Glasgow area is in Milngavie.

Hope you find what you are looking for.

Annie :?
Searching: Pow - Stirlingshire, Pender - Paisley, Gray - Alva, Paisley, Elderslie, Canning - Stirling, Morrison, Innes and Wilson - Glasgow to name a few!

www.dundeereptheatre.co.uk home to Scotland's only full time ensemble

SarahND
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Post by SarahND » Mon Nov 12, 2007 5:22 pm

Thanks, Anne & Annie!
I'll give your suggestions a try. I'm trying to figure out which Episcopal Chapel one of my ancestors attended in 1820, so I can see if there are any existing records. Doesn't look hopeful :( I had such good luck finding the Episcopal records in Aberdeen, that I assumed it would be as easy to track them after they moved to Glasgow... (that'll teach me to "assume" things!)
[sigh]
Sarah

Jack
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Re Willow Acre

Post by Jack » Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:23 pm

Hi Sarah,
You'll see where St. Andrew's Episcopal Church is on the excellent NLS site;
http://www.nls.uk/maps/townplans/townplans.html
--
Select Glasgow [1857-8] or Glasgow [1892-4]
Select Centre square,
Select VI.11.22 (bottom right)
St. Andrew's Episcopal is left of centre....
...at the corner of Low Green Street & Greendyke Street.
Above it on the map is the St. Andrew's Parish Church...not to be confused!
Just click on any area to zoom in.
--
The book, "Glasgow Ancient & Modern" (1873), gives mentions of the church over about 5 pages.
"The following Notanda are taken from an Historical Pastoral delivered on the 4th February 1861 - the 110th Anniversary"
A wee bit of it says,
"...This Chapel founded in 1750, a time at which prejudice ran absurdly high against the Church Episcopal.
So much did the Organ offend, that, for a lenghth of time, the Populace were wont to term the Chapel "the Whistlin' Kirk"...."
(from Wade's History of Glasgow. p 260)
"...Where we now are was designated "Willow Acre" - past which flow the Molendinar Burn just before the Gate..."
--
Doesn't say why it was called "Willow Acre"; suppose we can only presume that there were willow trees there at one point.
There is a woodcut of the Chapel in the book, and it's titled,
"The Oldest Episcopal Church in Scotland. 1821."
--
Jack

SarahND
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Post by SarahND » Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:40 pm

Oooh, Jack! :D :D :D :D

That location looks very possible! :D My ancestor was living over on Hutcheson Street-- not very far at all. If only some records survive [-o<

Thanks so much!
Sarah

Jack
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Re Willow Acre

Post by Jack » Mon Nov 12, 2007 8:10 pm

Hi again Sarah,
Unsurprisingly the book doesn't mention any records as it's about Glasgow in general.
And i've just noticed a later bit about the "Willow" name.
Methinks you'd need a rather old map to understand what the author is talking about.
The mentioned "Fleming's Plan" might be what's needed! :D
--
"...I cannot give anything satisfactory as to the derivation of Willow Acre.
It can have no reference to the English Willow, as the Scotch Sauch would at once exclude this notion.
Fleming's Plan shows minutely the region around us.
What is now "St. Andrew's Street," is there marked as the "Weel Closs;"
and, in M'Ure's time (1736) it goes under the name of "The Baker's Wynd,"
which, he says "reaches East from the Saltmarket Street to the Burn, and is of length 39 Ells, and 5 Ells and 2 ft. wide."
A Bridge crossed the Burn (the Molendinar, of course,) fronting St. Andrew's Church (not then Built),
where the Inhabitants got the Water to "Brew their Ale," and Wash and Bleach their Clothes in the Common Ground.
According to Scotch Lexicographers, Weel signifies "a small Whirlpool or Eddy,"-
and as, both at the "End" or Eastern extremity of the "Weel Closs," and down at
"Castle Boins," at the South-East of our Weel or Willow Acre,
- the same Ablutions went on, the Eddy or Weel may have been transformed into Willow.
I admit, however, that this Interpretation may be more ingenious than orthodox..."
--
Jack

SarahND
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Post by SarahND » Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:13 pm

Hi Jack,
As someone who has taught courses in Historical Linguistics, I'd say that the Scots word "weel" could be quite easily reinterpreted by English speakers as "willow"-- so makes perfect sense to me! :D
Thanks!
Sarah

SarahND
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Post by SarahND » Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:56 pm

Aha! I note that one of the ongoing projects of the Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society is the indexing of:

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church of Scotland records 1800-1855 (ongoing) \:D/

So it looks like the records exist at the Mitchell and there is hope that they will soon be indexed :D Guess where I'm going next time I'm in Scotland?!

Peggy Farrar
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Re: Willow Acre, Glasgow

Post by Peggy Farrar » Sun Jul 03, 2016 8:20 pm

I have a book of common prayer from St Andrews Church, Willow Acre Glasgow.
It is inscribed
'This is all, the other service books were destroyed by Provost Ramsey's Skin and Hide Market being demolished by fire and the walls falling on the chancel and vestry of St Andrew's Chapel, Willow Acre, Glasgow, on Sunday at 2.30 am, 27th October, 1889.
It is signed J. I. S. Gordon

This would explain the lack of registers recording births, marriages and deaths