Shotts Kirk can be seen from the M8 motorway, between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
It's a rare old sight at night, especially when it is all lit up.
If you can help us Save this old Kirk in anyway, large or small, we would greatly appreciate your support and would love to hear from you.
You can email us at sm_spence@hotmail.com or send donations or fundraising suggestions to us at:
Kirk o'Shotts Manse,
Solsburgh,
Shotts,
Lanarkshire ML7 4NS
On Monday 21stJune 1630, the celebrated Revival took place. It had been arranged that the Reverend John Livingstone, then a probationer, should preach in the kirkyard that morning after the Communion weekend. He preached on the text, Ezekiel 36:25-26. His sermon, which lasted for two and a half hours, was much used by God and changed the hearts of 500 people that morning. He preached for many years after that, but he said that he never again witnessed such a melting of hearts as he did that day in Shotts lonely kirkyard.
From the signing of the National Covenant in 1638 to the Revolution in 1688, the struggle between Presbyterianism and the Episcopacy went on till it reached its height in the killing times - 1684-1685. Shotts and the adjoining parishes of Monkland and Cambusnethan were strong supporters of the Covenant, and many coventicles were held within their bounds. The principal place for field preachings in the parish of Shotts was on a large moss between Benhar and Starryshaw. It was here at a place once known as the 'Deer Slunk', that Donald Cargill preached on the Sunday after Richard Cameron's death - 26th July 1681. John Kidd also preached here to a large, armed, coventicle. Nearby is the large whinstone boulder which has been known since the time of the martyred Alexander Peden as 'Peden's Stane'.
We have our own Covenanter's stone in the kirk yard to a certain William Smith, who fought at Rullion Green in the Pentlands in the year 1666. In 1678, the Duke of Monmouth, with an army of 10,000 men, camped for ten days at Muirhead, about three miles east of Kirk o'Shotts. They were on their way by the old bridle road, to Bothwell Bridge where they defeated the Covenanters. It is reckoned that 160 Shotts men took part in the battle, 13 were killed and 33 taken prisoner.
