Dawson Mission: The Beginning of a Work for God 09/09/2023

If a newspaper editor had chosen to report on the amazing things which were happening in the village of West Carron, he would not have been short of possible headlines.

• Iron workers remade in Carron

• New Life has come to West Carron

• Miracles happening - lives transformed

• Preaching in the rain

• The most unlikely place for revival

• No football on a Sunday

This is assuming that any editor would be interested enough to feature these events in a popular newspaper. However, it is clear in the 120+ years since , there has a decline in interest in people's spiritual welfare and a decline in respect for the Word of God. There would have been more interest in headlines such as these in the early 20th century when church attendance was still the norm. Scotland has undoubtedly become more secular compared with the start of the 20th Century.

It appears that West Carron was a tough community. Some people might have written it off and considered that the residents were too far gone for the Gospel. Praise the Lord that the lawyer, R. B. Stewart and his wife did not share such pessimism and prejudices. They had a real passion to see the Gospel preached among the newly built houses in West Carron which the company had built for their workers. The revival in the area seems to have begun with a Gospel tent being pitched in the area in 1900. There was an evangelist by the name of Mr Galletly, from "The Evangelisation Society," invited to preach to the working men and their families. What is uplifting from the source I have used for this blog, is the result of this preaching - lives were changed dramatically. "Several of the somewhat notorious men of the village being saved by Grace."

Photo of R.B. Stewart, lawyer and preacher at West Carron

This was the impetus for the birth of a Christian fellowship in West Carron and the Glasgow lawyer, R. B. Stewart and his wife played an important role in God's plan for the village. When the tent finished and it was too cold to continue to hold meetings under canvas, Mr Stewart continued meetings in a small house which had become vacant. The house was known as "Maggie Duff's End." These meetings were so well attended that this presented a problem for this man with a passion for winning the lost souls. The description is striking but somewhat curious: "Stewart could be seen on a winter's night standing outside on the pavement beneath his umbrella preaching to his congregation inside, through an open window of the house." Was he trying to spread the message to those who were not able or not willing to attend? It is remarkable that he was so unselfish that his congregation were in relative comfort while he had only the shelter of an umbrella. He would not have to hold a microphone in these early days and he would likely have had a voice like a foghorn - similar to those who preached the Gospel in the 'open air' in my boyhood days. God was blessing these efforts to evangelise this needy community.

"Men who were "workers in iron" were being remade. New life had come to West Carron. The village had the name of being a hard and wild place, but now some of the toughest characters were being redeemed, and the Grace of God was working miracles." [West Carron Village and its People: The Dawson Mission Hall. (Hidden Histories: Lost Villages Project)]

This is where Dinah Margaret Dawson comes into the story. She was one of the senior partners of the Carron Company - along with her sister, Lady Dawson Brodie of Powfoulis. Dinah Dawson heard about her workers having their lives transformed by the preaching of the Gospel and she was very positive about what was happening. She might even have seen for herself the lengths to which this preacher was having to go to preach to the workers. She intervened and provided the finance and the clout to have a proper hall built in West Carron. So she and her sister Lady Dawson Brodie paid for the corrugated iron hall which was built in the centre of the village. The newly converted workers were involved in erecting this hall. Mr Stewart continued with his service for the Lord in the village and he had the help of "the Bible woman," a Miss Milne who had been a missionary in India. [By the way, I have another name for the "Bible woman" from another source - Elizabeth Ralston]. She came to live in the area in a house which Dinah Dawson had specially built for her at Bothkennar Road, Carronshore. This became known as the missionary house. It is interesting to note the role played by women in the start of the Dawson Mission.

The Dawson Mission Hall was formally opened by Miss Dinah Dawson on Saturday afternoon of the 30th August, 1902. The Falkirk Herald reported on the formal opening and it was obviously a significant event in the social calendar.

• Miss Dawson formally performed the opening of the hall.

• R.B. Stewart chaired the meeting.

• Official guests included the manager of the Carron Ironworks and his wife.

• The widow of the former manager.

• Master mechanic of the Carron Company

• Various churches in the neighbourhood were represented by their minister or session clerk - Carron Church of Scotland; McLaren Memorial Church; Carronshore Church; Larbert Free Church.

• There was a guest from Larbert House and a minister from France.

There is a good description of the Mission Hall. The building was clad with iron with a pressed steel fence. There were two halls - a larger hall which could seat 250 people and a smaller hall at the rear which could take 80. The larger hall had a good sized platform. The building was heated with hot-water central heating. "A new harmonium was also provided." [As a boy I played a harmonium - an organ which had to be pedalled continuously to make the sound.]

The Mission continued in this hall until the 1950s when the houses in West Carron were considered uninhabitable and were boarded up as they became vacant. The houses were eventually demolished and the area became part of the Carron Iron Works as it expanded. But the superintendent at this time (the name given to the minister or leading pastor) Mr Alex Bain realised that the Mission would have to relocate. By April 1958 a new site had been identified and this is the current site of the Dawson Community Church (still referred to as Dawson Mission) next to the Carronbridge Inn or 'The Soo House.' The new mission hall was built on the site of the 'White House' (its proper name was 'Carronbridge'). The William Dawson Trust (mostly drawn from executives of the Carron Company) agreed to build a new hall on this site.

My main source was from the Hidden Histories: Lost Villages website. A number of people who had lived in the village of West Carron as children in the 1940s and 1950s were interviewed. It was David Glen, who also lived in West Carron at that time who provided the insight into the start of the Dawson Mission. I have also referred to a book called "CARRON Where Iron Runs Like Water.' I am indebted to various people in my church who have guided me and tried to ensure that the blogs are accurate including Margaret Maclean who grew up in the Mission - and her family were involved in the Mission and Matthew Paton whose father was a previous steward of the Mission. Gregor Crawford did considerable research into the history of Dawson Mission and together with Tom Clark, I have now in my study a fascinating collection of sources providing insight into the history. My good friend, Robert Clark has inspired me to write these blogs but, sadly, he is not well enough to discuss his memories of the Mission in any great detail. If you are reading this blog and want to get in touch with more insights, please send me an email at dayshare153@gmail.com