KIRK BUILDING

The current building known as Kirkliston Parish Church dates from around AD1200, but it has been extended and altered may times over the years.  The former south doorway is a very popular backdrop for photographs, and is said to resemble the arched west doorway of Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh. 

The Bell Tower supports a birdcage belfry with a single bell.  The bell is dated 1687 and it is still used to this day to call people to worship.

Southeast of the arched doorway is a gravestone with two carved heads, both of which are wearing spectacles (this is very unusual, and may be one of the earliest depictions of people wearing glasses).  There are other very old and interesting graves and headstones in the graveyard.  The oldest known one is dated 1529, but the name on this stone is no longer legible.

The graveyard also contains the graves of the Earl of Stair, of Kirkliston, and of his grandmother Dame Margaret - the original Lady Ashton in Sir Walter Scott’s “Bride of Lammermoor”.

Inside the church, in the west organ-loft is a wonderful pipe organ that was originally sited downstairs where the pulpit is currently located. The entry to the stairs and up to the organ gallery is the oldest part of the church. Entry to the bell tower is from a very small door on the same stairwell.

There are a number of wonderful stained glass windows to be viewed directly behind the pulpit on the south wall.

On the wall in the east aisle is a copy of the Solemn League and Covenant, 1643.  This historic document was a (short-lived) treaty between Scottish and English parliaments for the preservation of reformed religion in Scotland, England and Ireland. The Scots thereby giving allegiance to English parliamentarians in their disputes with the royalists and both countries pledged to work for a civil and religious union of England, Scotland, and Ireland under a presbyterian parliamentary system. When Oliver Cromwell gained control of England, however he had little sympathy for the Presbyterians and ignored the covenant. The Covenant contains the names of the Minister at the time (Master John Booke) and of 310 parishioners.

On one of the window ledges in the main aisle is a curious model of the church as it was between 1859-1884.

In the church’s vault are interred the members of the families of Dundas of Newliston and their successors – the Dalrymples of Stair and the Hogs.

If you are visiting Kirkliston and would like to see inside our historic church building, please do not hesitate to contact us and we would be delighted to show you round.

Across The Square from the mediæval church is a 19th Century church building with a stone spire. This building is known as the Thomas Chalmers Church Centre, and currently houses our church halls. The front of the building faces the main road, and was formerly accessed by stairs from High Street but this entrance has been walled up and the building can now be reached via a short lane behind the gate opposite the church building.

Following the Disruption in the Church of Scotland, the Free Church opened in Kirkliston in 1843 in a ceremony conducted by the Rev Thomas Chalmers in this (then) new building. Originally a simple box design chapel, the spire was added in 1880 to a design by Edinburgh architect, Hippolyte Blanc.

The building became part of Kirkliston Parish Church when the two congregations merged in 1941.