Did you know that one of North Ayrshire’s historic buildings found a new lease of life in Japan?
Following the Disruption of 1843, the Free Church of Perceton was opened with the congregation meeting in a church, built of brick, near to the home of Mr Muir Macredie of Perceton, two miles outside of Dreghorn.
In 1874 the decision was made to build a new church within the village of Dreghorn. A site at the top of Main Street was selected and the memorial stone for the new Perceton and Dreghorn Free Church was laid on Tuesday 7th March 1876 The church opened in 1877, at a cost of £4,300, and with Rev. John Connell as minister.
Rev. John Connell continued to serve the congregation until his retiral in 1894, after serving the Parish of Dreghorn for fifty years. He was replaced by Rev. John Esslemont Adams. In October 1929 the Free Church merged with the Church of Scotland and was renamed Perceton and Dreghorn Parish Church. On 12th September 1965 a stained-glass memorial window was unveiled in memory of their late minister Rev. William James Johnston Jamieson which was gifted to the church by his widow. The church closed in 1992 due to a dwindling congregation.
The church was then bought by the Sun Life Corporation of Japan for £50,000 as it had the correct symmetry to meet Zen Buddhist specifications. It was carefully dismantled with every block of masonry being carefully numbered and shipped, along with the pulpit and church organ, to Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, Japan where it was reconstructed within the grounds of the Hotel Sunlife Garden Wedding Complex at an additional cost of £250,000.
Renamed the ‘Grand Victoria Shonan’ it was officially opened on 2nd July 1999 attended by the Mayor of Hiratsuka and the President of Sun Life, Keiji Takeuchi. The British Embassy represented North Ayrshire Council and presented local dignitaries with engraved quaiches and whisky donated from the Isle of Arran Distillery. It is now a popular wedding venue for Japanese couples, with the bride often being dressed in white and the groom wearing some tartan.