History

The main or south front, with its dignified tower, stands above the surrounding houses and is seen for a considerable distance from the Glasgow-Edinburgh road.

Our separated brethren in Scotland have recently been celebrating (not without some misgivings and heart-searchings) the fourth centenary of the Reformation Parliament of 1560.

When our parish was founded in 1956 it was placed under the patronage of St. James the Greater, Apostle and close friend of Our Lord.

It is almost two years since we gathered on the site of our new church to see His Lordship Bishop Scanlan lay the Foundation Stone. Then we stood in a roofless shell.

It gives me great pleasure to introduce this commemorative booklet, which I warmly commend to the parishioners of Saint James’s and indeed to all who are interested in the story of the Church in Monkland.