THE STORY OF HOUSTON & KILLELLAN KIRK

No one knows exactly when Houston got its first place of worship or where it was built but in all probability it was in the 8th century, near Greenhill Farm, Houston.  The oldest surviving church building is the ruined Kirk of Kilallan, which bears the date of 1635.  This ruin is situated in Barochan Cross Road about 4 miles west of the centre of Houston.  An evening service in the churchyard there is held annually in July, when old Psalms are sung ti tunes well known to the parishioners of the time.

As a result of the Decree of Union which took place in 1771, the Kirk of Kilallan was no longer required and soon became a ruin.  Worship then centered around a fairly modest building which was erected on the site of our present Church around 1775.  It was envisage that a new church, big enough to hold the united body would be built at Houston but because of the considerable costs involved, in the event only galleries were added to the existing building.

However, aground 1870, Mrs Ellice of Glengarry was given permission by Paisley Presbytery to build a new church, on the present site, in memory of her young son, Alexander Archibald Spiers of Elderslie, who had died shortly after being elected as MP for West Renfrewshire.  By the early 1930's, this building was badly in need of repairs and by the time responsibility for any church repairs fell on the congregation.  Fortunately, the Laird came to the rescue and he agreed to carry out a scheme of restoration, improvements and re-decoration in memory of his mother.  This work was completed in 1938 and apart from the installation of 2 new stained glass windows and the resiting of the organ the church has remained virtually unchanged up to the present day.

The present church hall was built in 1844 a the time of the Disruption when a body of members of Houston Kirk broke away to form a congregation of the newly constituted Free (later to become United Free) Church.  This was called West Kirk.

In March 1941, a fire broke out in the loft of the Church.  This resulted in the complete destruction of the church.  However, in 1949, it was agreed that the 2 congregations would unite on the understanding that worship would be held in Houston and Killellan Kirk and that the rebuilt 'West Church' would provide hall accommodation.  As a result, the original part (next to the main stret) was reopened in 1953 and an additional hall (next to the manse) was added in 1989.