In 1790 the old church was demolished, except the ‘chancel’ which survived until 1874, and a new church built immediately behind. It was a large, fairly plain box-type structure with a classical steeple, and may have sat around 1,200 in box pews. During the mid-1870s the congregation became the brief focus of national controversy. Although ideas of Christmas Day services, printed service sheets, displaying the Cross and Christogram lettering ‘IHS' may seem obvious today, ‘the Duns innovations’ were a source of much contemporary debate and press interest. Unfortunately the church itself was destroyed in a tremendous fire in the early hours of 18th February 1879, so ferocious it threw debris as far away as Newtown Street, leaving only the bare walls and steeple stonework intact.
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