Early Ministers

Although this period at the close of the sixteenth century had its full share of violence, strife and unrest, life went on and the worship in the new Church at Kenmore continued. Duncan Macaulay ministered to his widely-
scattered flock until 1589. He was followed by a man without any Gaelic who was unable to communicate with his parishioners. This non-Gaelic speaker was followed by John MacLagan, who stayed until 1607 when he left for Logierait. After him there was a long and damaging vacancy during which the people were denied the ordinances of the Church. The seventh laird, bearing the awesome title Black Duncan, in spite of being a cruel schemer, ordered his estates well. Although devious, cruel and acquisitive, he was a man of method. He was the first to take an interest in afforestation and encouraged the cotters and the tenants to plant trees. He planted many fine stands of timber in his own policies and was said to have introduced the larch species to this area. He would have been interested to see the acres of larch which were to cover his lands in the twentieth century, in turn to be superceded by faster-growing species. The situation in the church at Kenmore became so desperate that the Presbytery persuaded the former minister, Duncan Macaulay, to return in 1611, but he was so frail and ill that he had to give up. The Church Commissioners were to report “the area is too large for people to be instructed in Reformation doctrines where people seldom repair to the Parish Church except on necessity of receiving the Lord’s Supper, baptism
or marriage. There is much ignorance and great grief about it”.

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