St Brigid's is the church for the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Parish of

Kilbirnie Kilbirnie () is a small town of 7,280 (as of 2001) inhabitants situated in the Garnock Valley area of North Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is around southwest of Glasgow and approximately from Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley and ...

, in the

Diocese of Galloway The Diocese of Galloway was one of the thirteen (after 1633 fourteen) dioceses of the pre-1689 Scottish Church. The Diocese was led by the Bishop of Galloway and was centred on Whithorn Cathedral. In the Middle Ages, there was only one arc ...

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire (, ) is one of 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and s ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

History

A group of Christians began worshipping there in 1858; the church and presbytery were built in simple Gothic style in 1862 and a school was opened in 1894. Fr Thomas P Lee was a young Irish priest ordained at All Hallows Missionary College in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland; originally from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

. He first was sent in 1859 to be the resident priest in

in Ayrshire. He travelled by horse weekly from his base in Johnstone in the neighbouring county of

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

to Kilbirnie. Somehow he raised the money and found land to build his church and chose as the patron saint of the parish,

St. Brigid Saint Brigid of Kildare or Saint Brigid of Ireland (; Classical Irish: ''Brighid''; ; ) is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish ...

(devotion to the poor). Opened in 1862, the modest structure was a Gothic styled rectangular building with a

gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: * Gallery (surname), a surname Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery ** Online art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ' ...

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

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and a related presbytery. Fr Lee died two years later at the age of 33. At the time, Kilbirnie parish was in the

Archdiocese of Glasgow The Archdiocese of Glasgow was one of the thirteen (after 1633 fourteen) dioceses of the Scottish church. It was the second largest diocese in the Kingdom of Scotland, including Clydesdale, Teviotdale, parts of Tweeddale, Liddesdale, Annan ...

, hence the connection with Johnstone. Following the reorganisation of the

in 1947, parishes in the northern part of Ayrshire were transferred to the Diocese of Galloway. It was decided that the increasing post war population called for the church to be renovated and enlarged. There was to be an extension to the rear of the existing church. In front a new porch and baptistery were added to the old structure. The renovated and expanded church was opened in 1957. Conveniently the

schoolmaster A schoolmaster, or simply master, is a male school teacher. The usage first occurred in England in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. At that time, most schools were one-room or two-room schools and had only one or two such teacher ...

's house next door was also purchased to replace the more distant presbytery on Parkhouse Drive. When the church was completed there was to be a new sanctuary and sacristy with accommodation for the altar boys.

21st century

St Brigid's is one of three churches in the parish; the other two are Our Lady's (Beith) and St Palladius (Dalry). Official website, retrieved February 20, 2024
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References

External links

Centenary Souvenir Brochure (1962)
{{morecat, date=April 2024 Churches in North Ayrshire Roman Catholic churches completed in the 1860s Roman Catholic churches in Scotland 1862 establishments in Scotland 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures in North Ayrshire