Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug.
Isaiah 51:1
The village in which we are situated was posthumously named after its founder.
William Quarrier was born on 16th September 1829, into a family in Greenock which became poor after his father died when William was just three. He and his family moved to Glasgow where there were more work opportunities.
In William Quarrier’s own words:
“When a little boy, I stood in the High Street of Glasgow, barefooted, bareheaded, cold and hungry, having tasted no food for a day and a half, and, as I gazed at each passer-by, wondering why they did not help such as I, a thought passed through my mind that I would not do as they when I would get the means to help others.”
The young William made a vow that day which was to shape his future. He had a good mind, and he diligently began to learn the art of shoemaking, first as a young apprentice, and then as a tradesman himself. When William was 17 he went to work for Mrs Hunter, a Glasgow business woman who was also a committed Christian, and she began to teach William about the Lord; Quarrier soon committed his life to Christ.
Then some 30 years after his vow, having become a successful business man in his own right, William Quarrier passed by a little match seller who was crying because someone had stolen his matches and money. Quarrier began to ask himself seriously what could be done for the poor children in Glasgow. He was soon instrumental in initiating the “Shoe Black Brigade”, giving boys a shoe shining kit, so they could earn some money for themselves. Later he opened a home in Glasgow to house the children he was trying to help.
But it became William Quarrier’s dream to take the children out of the smog and dirt of Glasgow and set them up in homes, with house mothers and fathers, out in the countryside. Again in William Quarrier’s own words:
“A friend met me on the street, and asked if I had seen the farm in Kilmacolm Parish that was to be sold? I replied that I had not, and that I considered the place too far away. In talking over the matter, he persuaded me to go and see the farm, and when I did go, and, standing where our big Central building, is now, saw that it had everything I prayed for, – perfect drainage and not only a burn , but a river and a large flat field for a recreation ground, – I said in my heart to the Lord, “This will do.” Ever since I have blessed the Lord for that; my way was not God’s way, and so He shut us in amongst these Renfrewshire hills, away from the ways of men.
William Quarrier was used by God to begin the work called “The Orphan Homes of Scotland.” Most of the original buildings for which he believed God would provide the money, can still be seen in Quarriers Village. The first buildings to be erected were the Central Hall and two “cottages”, as he called the large homes which were created, all different, to house the children. The hall served as school, workshops and place of worship.
Quarrier was not only concerned with meeting the children’s physical needs; his main aim was to assist with their spiritual needs too. The Central Hall could only hold 400 people and soon it was too small for Sunday worship, so Quarrier began to pray that God would provide the money to build a bigger, purpose built church.
Quarrier said:
“I prayed that God would give us a new Church to hold 1,000 people, and to cost something like, £5,000. After a year of waiting and praying, a friend came to me in the street one day and said, “I’m going to build you that Church you want.”
It was a new song of praise to God that day, I can tell you, and we went on to build our Church. Now, even it we find too small, and we are praying to the Lord for £2500 to enlarge the building, and enable us to accommodate 500 more worshippers.”
The magnificent, gothic style church was named “Mount Zion”, and the large extension was also built. Today the building is still in the centre of the village, although it has been converted into flats. It was used continually for regular worship until Sunday 25th January 2004, when we had our final service in the building. For the next 10 years the congregation met in a room in Bethesda, a Quarriers staff training building. In 2014, we had the great opportunity to begin to renovate our current premises in Law View Road, and we held the first service there on Palm Sunday that year. We call our current building “Mount Zion Church”.
