Fraserburgh Old Parish Church

General History Fraserburgh Old Parish Church was founded in 1571 in the village of Faithlie which was soon to be built up into the town of Fraserburgh. The church itself was the first new structure of Sir Alexander Fraser's new town after the Castle of Kinnaird's Head. It did not take long for the church to become imbroiled in its first controvery due to the religious troubles of the time. From the building of the Kirk in 1571 until 1600, Scotland's official religion was that of Presbytery. When King James VI introduced Episcopacy as the official religion in 1600, Fraserburgh had a devout Presbyterian in the pulpit. The Rev. Charles Ferme MA (c.1565-1617), was appointed to Fraserburgh Old in 1599 and rejected the King's new style of religious government. Instead he allied himself with Rev Andrew Melville - a man who did much to frustrate King James from infancy. On 2 July 1605, Ferme was one of the 14 ministers who attended the unauthorised Assembly of Aberdeen. For his part in disobeying the King he was imprisoned in the Castle of Doune for a year, before being exiled to the Highlands for a number of years. He was in exile until at least 1609, before being released to his Parish where her died in 1617. After his death, the Kirk slipped into the Episcopal form of Church Government. Not much is recorded about the Kirk over the next century. Events seem abnormally quiet for the times which suggest that the Kirk had undergone a contented shift to Episcopacy by the 1640s.It is worth mentining that in 1684 the Lord Saltoun married off his grandson and heir to Margaret Sharp, daughter of James Sharp(archbishop), the famous Archbishop of St. Andrews who was charged with installing Episcopacy throughout Scotland. Lord Saltoun also appointed the ministers of the High Kirk.