Our Story
Our congregation was formed in 1843 as part of the event known as the Disruption, when hundreds of ministers and elders left the Established Church to form a new denomination in which congregations would be free to choose their own ministers.
The first meeting took place on 21 May 1843 in a schoolhouse where Costa is today. Another part of the congregation met in a barn at Braehead. With exceptional speed they raised funds and erected a building. Cramond Free Church – now Davidson’s Mains Parish Church – opened for worship on 17 December 1843.
As the builders worked to raise the walls of the new church, the wider area was also changing. The tiny village of Muttonhole was well placed to serve the expanding city of Edinburgh with dairies and nurseries. Around this time it became known as Davidson’s Mains after the Davidson family who owned the Muirhouse estate.
Davidson’s Mains remained a distinct rural village until well into the twentieth century. Today it is a thriving suburban community, still with its own distinct identity.
There have been many developments in the buildings, organisation and ministry of Davidson’s Mains Parish Church over its 175+ years, but it has consistently been blessed with faithful, biblical leadership and a desire to share the good news of Jesus in an ever changing society.