On the other side of the High Street from St Paul’s Church stands a building which used to be the Glasite Meeting House. John Glas founded the Glasites in Scotland in 1730.
A Glasite Church which was regarded as the “foundation of the Glasites” may have been founded in 1733. This church building was later, thought to have been erected in Perth in 1773. The date of 1839 it is thought refers to a later renovation, not to the building’s actual construction. (History of St Paul’s Church, J. R, Maclean 1957)
The Glasite churches aimed at a strict conformity with a primitive type of Christianity. Church unanimity was considered to be necessary; if any member differed in opinion from the rest, he must either surrender his judgement to that of the church, or be shut out from its communion. The Lord’s Supper was observed weekly and every member was required to be present. This did not take the form of symbolic morsels of wine and bread but a relatively substantial meal, a custom leading to the Glasites’ nickname of ‘Kail Kirk’ as Scotch Broth was served. The custom may have arisen as a charitable response to the poverty of most members of this Church and also as a pragmatic response to the length of meetings, particularly the sermons, and the distances some members of the congregation had to travel in order to attend.
The building was later purchased for use as the Church Hall for St Paul’s by the Rev T.D. Miller and his wife, formerly Margaret Julia Grant. The second plaque is a memorial to their fathers Thomas Miller (1839-1891) rector of Perth Academy for 32 years, and Alexander Grant, hence the Grant Miller memorial hall.
The St Paul’s minister used the hall as a vestry and then crossed the street into the church to conduct the service. (History of St Paul’s Church, J. R, Maclean 1957)
