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| The first record of a hamlet at the eye of Loch Balgay dates back to the 12th century when Alexander I, King of the Scots, gifted Liff's parish lands to Scone Abbey. In the 1500s, the Camperdown Duncans drained the loch for farmland and offered crofting tenancies along the Burn - one going to the Dutchman James Cock & family. With a name change and a reputation for quality linen, Cox saw an opportunity and set-up as linen merchant in 1700. The firm had gathered 300 weavers under one roof by 1760, and by bringing in steam power and jute, made their Camperdown Works the largest in Europe. Lochee had become a company town of 1200, with 2 railway stations, police force & fire service, schools, swimming pool, casino, library, washouse and several churches. |
| Lochee first acquired a church in 1785 when the United Associated Secessionists set-up in 'Kirk Street'. Membership problems caused the UAS to move to the 'Little Kirkie' in Lorne Street and thereafter as the United Presbyterians to the High Street in 1837. Expansion paid for the new Lochee West UP Church - opened in 1871 - with the old site purchased by the Cox Bros. and donated to the Established Church, thereafter reopened as St Luke's Parish Church. |
| members of the distant Liff Parish Kirk were rewarded with a Chapel of Ease in 1830 - still in use today. Quickly attaining parish status, St Ninian's lost out in the disruption of 1843 when half the congregartion left, protesting against state control, and erected Lochee East Free Church directly opposite. The UPs united with the FC in 1900 as the United Free, in turn reuniting with the Established Church to form the Church of Scotland in 1929. |
| Lochee declined with the diminishing jute industry, forcing the union of Lochee East and St Ninian's in 1959 as 'Lochee Old'. After Camperdown Works closed, St Luke's merged in 1985, forming Lochee Old & St Luke's as we know it today. After 7 months of discussions, Lochee West and Lochee Old & St Luke's agreed in 2003 to a deferred union. |
| A brief history of the Lochee Churches |