Highland Church
The Highland Church was a Gaelic-speaking congregation of the Church of Scotland, based in Tollcross, Edinburgh. Formed by the union of St Oran's Church and St Columba's Gaelic Church in 1948, the congregation continued united with Tolbooth St John's in 1956. Gaelic worship in Edinburgh began in the early 18th century, leading to the opening of the Gaelic Chapel in 1769. At the Disruption of 1843, all the office-bearers of the Gaelic congregation joined Free Church along with most of the congregation's members. The Free congregation met at a building off Lothian Road before moving nearby to a permanent church at Cambridge Street in Tollcross. From 1849 to 1846, Thomas McLauchlan served as the congregation's minister. An active pastor, he strengthened congregation's activities and served as the moderator of the Free Church's general assembly in 1876. The congregation adopted the name St Columba's Gaelic Free Church, after Columba of Iona, in 1864. In 1900, most of the congregation joined the United Free Church, which had been formed by the union of the Free and United Presbyterian churches. Disputes and schisms around the union diminished the congregation, however. By 1931, the regular English service, introduced in 1886, had become the congregation's