Hello Arlene, The information below may help with an explanation; as well it seems that the lofts were accessible by outside staircases. One picture in on the site noted shows just that. Other articles speak of the lofts being set out for Heritors' which gave them a private space and often with fireplace and special seating apart from the congregation. http://www.wgma.org.uk/Articles/NEScotland/article.htm Also, I do have a book called "Drongan The Story of a Mining Village" which gives a wonderful accounting of the early 17th and 18th century coalmining. The 1791 Statistical Account reads "that on the lands of Drongan is an extensive coalliery, which has been wrought above a century, to the great benefit of Air and the neighbourhood". Survived is an early map dated may 19th 1710 and shows the coal shafts then in operation. The distances are in ells, an old Scottish measurement (1ell = 38") By the year 1900 the village consisted of 65 houses near the pithead and a few shops. These communities consisted entirely of the miners and their families. The rows were demolished in the 1930's due to the appalling conditions. By 1946 it was proposed that Drongan be developed as a 'new town" and miners with their families from other communities were also housed there. __________________________ Best regards, Linda Nordby In Part from the wgma site: Many lofts were built to accommodate the new choirs (11), the reasoning for them being set out in the July 1755 Scots Magazine. The anonymous correspondent urged "... that a body of the singers sit together, generally in some gallery or loft, by which means they mutually assist each other, and lead the voices of such as are scattered in the body of the church, and command them more effectually than it is the power of any precentor to do". In August 1755 it was further reported that "the gentlemen and ladies usually contribute very generously to ease the poorer people of some of the expense of being taught, and to purchase psalm-books for them: and the heritors not only afford their countenance, but have also built commodious lofts or galleries for the performers, in churches where they were wanting". In Kintore in 1754 "the new loft which the Earl of Kintore had built and gave free to those who were taught to sing, contained about 120 people and had greatly slacken'd the body of the church" (12). Visible evidence remains at Rayne, the third parish to experience the revival according to the Scots Magazine report; at the top of an external stair to a side gallery the date 1754 is carved. The choirs seem basically to have been three-part: at Huntly for example the new loft was divided into sections for cantus or treble, for tenor and for bassus (12). __________________________________________________________________ Subject: [AYR] Drongan Loft In regards to Stair, Ayrshire, I found an interesting site that mentions the church that was built in 1706.  It appears to have had two 'lofts' one named Drongan and the other Barskimming.  Could anyone clarify the loft designation?  I think that the baptismal record for my ancestor mentions being 'baptized at Drongan' Any help appreciated Arlene Hetchler Arizona, . ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to AYRSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message