ST ANDREW'S CHURCH (THE ENGLISH KIRK) - Harriet Tulloch

It must have been in about 1910 that a group of Episcopalians met in the Prestonpans Town Hall to discuss the establishment of an Episcopal Church here. The outcome was that a wooden building was erected at the east end of the town and the First service seems to have taken place on May 28th 191 I when twenty-five people attended under the Rev Matthew Wilson. From then. a large number of different celebrants appear in the records and most of them must have been visiting preachers.
In time a better wooden church was erected at the cast end of the High Street and the First dedication seems to have taken place in 1914 as "The Church of the Holy Nativity. Prestonpans". From that time the numbers attending services varied from as few as two up to thirty-five or so. With such small numbers, the financial burden was heavy and St. Peter's Musselburgh adopted the church as a Mission and services were conducted by curates from there.
In 1952 a scheme was submitted to enclose the wooden church within a shell of stone. There was very little money but the curatc-in-charge. the Rev J D Lyford Pike was enthusiastic and the church was constructed by members of the congregation themselves, and at their own expense, in their own spare time. None of them had any real experience of building and when it was done the V.dlnhur^h Evening News sent an expert down to report and he staled that "The mortar has run down the walls and the tower is eleven inches out of plumb............ and it looks magniOcent". And so it did! But this lean was to become important later when a number of Consultants worried about it. not knowing of the original history. Of more importance, perhaps, was weakness of the roof which proved not up to the weight of the very heavy roofing tiles which had been generously donated by Messrs Cruden. Musselburgh. The work took a long time since it was a spare-time activity but the building was completed and re-dedicated on April 15th. 1956.
By 1958 it was considered that the church was healthy enough to depart from its dependence upon St Peter's Musselburgh and an independent parsonage should be built. A system-built "Doran" house was erected in the church grounds by a method which one day was to prove not altogether satisfactory. The first occupant was the Rev R A Grant who had been largely responsible for promoting the house building.
The church prospered for many years under a number of priests, notably the Rev Chris Porteous who was even able to establish an off-shoot congregation in a caravan at Tranent. In time. though, in accordance with a trend which affected most churches, it was found desirable to amalgamate once more with St Peter's Musselburgh and so it operates to-day.
By 1992. difficulties with the somewhat sub-standard rectory and with the structure of the church itself, had become sufficiently worrying that. when the present building on West Loan became available the congregation somewhat reluctantly abandoned the old buildings. The Grange Church had combined with Preston Parish Church and the Grange Church building had become the Parish Church Hall. Now the combined churches were giving up their Church Hall and St Andrew's was able to take it over.
In the last service of the old church the congregation paraded to its new home with some sadness but with great hopes for the future.



St Andrew's Church when it was at the east end of the High Street