Time capsule found in rubble of church destroyed by fire

A time capsule was found buried in the rubble of an iconic church in North Lanarkshire destroyed by fire.

St Mungo’s Church in Cumbernauld – a B-listed building designed by Scottish architect Alan Reiach – was devastated by fire in August.

However a demolition crew tasked with clearing away the burnt-out remains discovered a mysterious metal canister following a tip-off in late November.

The capsule was found to contain copies of the Cumbernauld News from 1964, as well as coins and church membership lists.

It had been placed in the lower structure of the building when the foundation stone was laid in November 1964.

The discovery came about by sheer chance, after a member of the congregation discovered a copy of the order of service for the foundation stone laying among some of her late mother’s papers at her home.

Morag Rusk, the session clerk of Cumbernauld Trinity Church, said the order of service stated that “a canister containing records and coins shall be laid in the foundations” of the church.

She added: “I asked the demolition team to look out for it and amazingly they actually found it in the rubble and handed it over to us.”

The 6 November 1964 edition of the newspaper reported the stone would be laid the following day.

A copy from 16 October 1964 published details on the death of the serving minister of St Mungo’s Church, Rev Simon Roy MacKintosh.

The canister also contained various ‘Linlithgow and Falkirk Presbytery’ papers regarding the new building, some ideas from the parish minister as to the proposed layout, the congregational roll of the day and some pre-decimal coins of the era.

Mrs Rusk said: “We opened the canister at the Cafe Church a few weeks ago and the contents were tightly packed – it is such a wonderful and unexpected find.

“Despite losing the building in such bad circumstances, the site has now been cleared and the congregation is feeling positive about the future.”

There were no injuries in the blaze in August, but the building was destroyed in what emergency services said was deliberate fire raising.

No-one has been arrested and charged in connection with the fire, and members of the Church of Scotland are now in talks with local authorities about the future of the site.