Site Report

WoSASPIN 6787

(NS 3147 5364) Church (NAT) Formerly St Birinie's Church (NR)
(NS 3147 5362) Monument (NR)
OS 6" map (1911)

Kilbirnie Parish Church was dedicated to St Brendan. The kirk session state that it is said to stand on the site of a 6th century chapel of St. Brendan (Sanctus Birinius), and there are records of a ministry at Beith from 1127. A pre-Reformation building, it is a simple oblong, 65ft by 29 1/2ft, the tower attached to the W gable was built in 1490, the aisle was built in 1597, and the N aisle added in 1642. In 1854-5, the church was thoroughly repaired. At that time, when the old earthen floor was cleared out, numerous skeletons were dug up from nearly all over the area. Much of the S wall was rebuilt, and other alterations made.
In the churchyard is the tomb of Thomas Crawford, a captain of the protestant armies in Queen Mary's time.
J S Dobie 1880; W J Watson 1926

The Barony Parish Church, Kilbirnie, is in good condition and in use. The Crawford monument, a rectangular tomb, is dated 1594.
Visited by OS (DS) 4 September 1956

Previous field report confirmed.
Visited by OS (RDL) 12 May 1964

Complicated building history from 1470 to 20th century.
1470 rectangular nave forms core of church, built in coursed rubble with ashlar dressings; 2-stage tower, with set-off, added at west in 1490. Nave and tower both with later saw-tooth skews; birdcage bellcote at apex of tower gable, possibly mid 18th century, has similarly detailed pyramidal roof. All other extensions have crowstepped gables.
1597 south-east aisle built for Sir John Cunninghame of Glengarnock castle; later, heavily moulded mullioned and transomed window with crest in panel above.
1642 Crawford aisle added at the north east, has paired lancet window to gallery. To the east of the Crawford aisle a transept and entrance were added in 1903-5, Charles S.S. Johnson of Edinburgh, architect. Low door at left. Shallow advanced gable to east, tripartite with raised central light to gallery, the latter with mouldings imitating the Cunninghame aisle window. At east, small drum stairtower with projecting entrance and a window breaking through the moulded eaves.
1910 organ chamber, Charles S.S. Johnson architect, added to north west of Cunninghame aisle, continuing the details of that aisle. Slate roofs throughout.
Interior: Crawford gallery circa 1705 for 1st Viscount Garnock. Laird's loft with elaborate Renaissance detailing; gallery supported on Roman Doric columns. Bowed gallery front with paired Corinthian engaged columns dividing blind arcade; elaborate coats of arms depicting the family lineage under each arch; Corinthian columned screen divides gallery, bold box cornice with highly decorative modillion cornice. Canopy supported on giant Corinthian columns. Pulpit mainly 18th century, incorporating earlier details, panelled pine; with reading desk supported on brackets, with carved faces; baptismal basin with wrought-iron bracket; panelled rear screen with 2 Ionic pilasters supporting entablature surmounted by Crawford and Lindsay arms in foliated design. Above, large oak, pedimented sounding board, probably 17th century, with carved angel, cherubs, foliage, thistle and rose. Ladyland pew, part oak part pine, with delicate balustrade incorporates late 17th and early 18th century carving; bracketted hood with ealborate scrolls and pediment with acroterion. 1903-5 balcony, linking Crawford gallery to south wall and inserted when seating was re-organised, is fronted with trades and crafts panels in style similar to gallery.
Rubble-built Cemetery walls enclose some early tombstones and the rectangular Crawford tomb of 1594 which houses recumbant effigies of Thomas Crawford of Jordanhill and his wife Janet Ker of Kersland.
Derived from HS Listed Buildings data.
Entered WoSAS (CF) 14/12/00

Drawings HD K/31/1/1-9 refer to the Knox family vault in 'Kilbirnie New Cemetery'. This might be the area centered on NS 31616 53383 to the South East of the church across from the dismantled railway.
(Information from RCAHMS DJNP 3 January 2003)


NMRS REFERENCE
Architect: Charles S. Johnston (carved panels).

NMRS Microfilm and Microfiche Collection
Monumental Inscriptions Within Cunninghame District
Copyright: Cunninghame District Council
Acc. no. 1990/57
Reel 2 (Kilbirnie), accompanied by index on microfiche.
Report date for above text from NMRS 21/01/2003
Entered WoSAS (MO'H) 22/11/2007

The following is taken from present day church documents and is written mostly verbatim. Crawford has added certain reference notes.

THE AULD KIRK OF KILBIRNIE, SCOTLAND A DESCRIPTION

The Auld Kirk (Old Church) of Kilbirnie is thought to owe its foundation to the Irish Celtic Saint Brendan, "The Navigator", born in Tralee, later Bishop of Clonfert on the Shannon, who is credited with having sailed to America by way of Iceland. Brendan was involved in Christian missionary endeavour in Scotland at the same time as Saint Columba brought Christianity to Iona in 563 A.D. Brendan is recorded as having vis-ited Iona, and his name is given to Kilbrannan Sound and to Christian settlements on Mull, St. Kilda, Birnie (near Elgin) as well as North Ayshire, where the local St. Bren-dan's Fair has been observed in May annually. Christian worship is thought to have been offered on or near the site of the present church since the 6th century.

The first definite reference to a church on this site is given as 1127. This was in the reign of David I. "The sair sanct for the crown", as his descendent James I described him. David was a benefactor to the Church in general, probably seeing it as a buttress for the power of the Crown.

The next reference is in 1275, and arose due to a demand from Pope Gregory X for a levy of one tenth of the income of all churches for six years to fund a Crusade. The Collector for Scotland, called Baiamundus de Vitia made an assessment on a more satis-factory basis, and "Bagimont's" or "Baidmund's" Roll, as it came to be called, re-mained the basis for taxation of Church property until the Reformation. The sum ar-rived at for the church in Kilbirnie was £40, and was, in the values of the time, a very considerable amount of money.

Apart from an early gap of 47 years, the church has an unbroken line of ministry since 1361, which is set out under the Crawfurd Gallery.

The present pre-Reformation1 church nave and tower were constructed between 1470 and 1490 at the direction of the Abbot of Kilwinning Abbey, a foundation of monks from Tiron in France.

The church building is among the oldest in Scotland in continuous use, and the sand-stone used in the construction probably came from local quarries, where stone had been exposed by the action of the Paduff and Pundeavon Burns. Later extensions followed.

- The Glengarnock Aisle:
The Glengarnock Aisle of 1597 was constructed by Sir James Cunningham of Glengar-nock Castle. This was built thirty-seven years after the conclusion of the Scottish Ref-ormation in 1560, and six years before the Union of the Scottish and English Crowns under James (VI and I) in 1603.

-The Crawfurd Aisle:
The Crawfurd Aisle of 1642, comprising the Gallery, dining room and family burial vault, was erected by Sir John Crawfurd. The magnificent Gallery was probably constructed of local oak by itinerant skilled craftsmen, and was embellished with the family heraldic achievements in 1705 by the first Viscount Garnock, grandson of Sir John Crawfurd. The Crawfurd family home, Place Castle, was destroyed by fire in 1757, and the family moved to Fife. When the male succession failed in the early nineteenth century, an Irishman named John Crawfurd, laid claim to the title through the courts, but was unsuccessful. However, on his death in 1833, Lady Mary Lind-say, then the family head, gave permission for his remains to be interred in the vault along with the remains of Sir John Crawfurd and various other descendants. The vault is now walled up permanently. The remaining part of the vault contains pre-Reformation gravestones removed from the churchyard for safekeeping.

- The North Transept:
The population of the parish of Kilbirnie in 1755 was a mere 651 persons, a low figure for an area of eleven thousand acres, most of which was poor wet agricultural land. The coming of the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions brought the population to more than 2,600 by 1841. Most worked in the Knox thread mills. With the opening of the Glasgow, Paisley, Ayr and Kilmarnock (later Glasgow and South Western) Railway in 1843, the sandstone, coal, ironstone, fireclay and limestone workings, lime kilns and brick works and Merry & Cunninghame's ironworks beginning production in 1843, the population of the parish more than doubled in the decade to 1851.

The church with this influx, was too small to accommodate its worshippers, and the proposal was made to Ayr Presbyterian to demolish and to build a replacement church. Fortunately a programme of improvement was decided on, and this saw the first wooden floor installed, the old gallery being put in place, and the belfry rebuilt in 1853, a hundred years after its original construction. This sufficed until the turn of the cen-tury, when the most extensive alteration was carried out. The new North Transept of 1903, in the Scots Baronial style, was designed by the leading church architect of the time, Charles Johnston of Edinburgh, and for the two years required for its execution, the congregation worshipped in the Good Templars' Hall, Bridgend. On its completion the carved panels were added to the front of the old and new galleries.

- The Organ Chamber:
The last major structural work was the Organ Chamber of 1910, which encloses the 2 manual and full pedal board organ of 1911, built by Ingram of Edinburgh. The only al-teration to the original registration was made in 1996 with the substitution of an 8' Dul-ciana on the great, with a 2' fifteenth made in 1879 by Joseph Brook, of Spring and Brook of Busby for an organ in St. Ninian's Episcopal Church in Pollokshields.

Several features of the church commend themselves to the visitor.

Whilst many of the roof timbers in the east nave date from the 15th century, the oldest item of church furniture is the pulpit of local Scots pine, which dates from approxi-mately 1580. It appeared during restoration that the pulpit had been painted white at some time, perhaps during the period of Episcopacy. Later it was common for the minister to baptise from the pulpit, and to this end and iron bracket and a pewter bowl are affixed beside the steps to the pulpit. Of interest are four brackets which support the book-board, and which are carved into human faces of different types, symbolising the preaching of the Gospel to all mankind. Later repairs to the pulpit have been executed partly in oak.

Between the years of 1853 and 1903 the pulpit stood against the east gable of the nave (where the Ladyland Pew is now located). The pulpit has been raised on Quebec yellow pine, first imported in the 1820's. The sounding board above is full of scriptural alle-gory.

The Ladyland Pew, now removed to the east gable, used to stand next to the Crawfurd Gallery before the demolition of the original north wall of the church in 1903, bears the date 1671, and the Arms of Barclay, then the owners of Ladyland. Constructed of lime and chestnut, the Pew is thought to have been variously altered from a less elaborate flat canopy supported by pillars.

The church bell which hangs in the tower bears the date of 1753, and the name of the then minister, Malcolm Brown, who had the distinction of being the incumbent for a pe-riod of sixty years, dying in the hundredth year of his age. Also on the bell is the name of "Ioannus Milne, Edinburgo" who cast it. He was also a maker of cannon.

Communion tokens are extant from 1769 and 1864, the former carrying the initials M.M.B.K. (Mister Malcolm Brown Kilbernie).

The Stained glass is in different styles. The oldest windows are in the Glengarnock Aisle, showing Biblical flowers and fruit, and are from the 1890's. The glass is proba-bly English, as are the Knox windows in the east gable. Other windows include those out of Scottish studios of Sydney Holmes, of Guthrie and Wells (1949) Gordon Webster (1959) and Arthur Spiers (1990).

Two windows and a painting in the north wall together represent the Trinity. God the Son is depicted in the Lamb of God window removed from the former Glengarnock Church after its union with the Barony Church in 1978, when the Barony Church came to be known as Kilbirnie Auld Kirk. At its installation in 1986, the flag borne by the Lamb of God was changed from the Cross of St. George to the Scottish Saltire. God the Holy Spirit is represented by the Dove in the Arthur Spiers window installed in 1990 to commemorate 500 years of worship in the present church. God the Father is repre-sented in the oil painting by the Irish artist Liam Treacy installed in 1995, following extensive renovation and restoration carried out on the church with generous grant as-sistance from Historic Scotland, The Baird Trust, The Ferguson Bequest and the Scot-tish Churches' Architectural Heritage Trust.

In 1990 the ladies of the congregation worked the tapestry designed by Kirkcudbright artist, Joan Milroy. Its central panel incorporates the Celtic and Jerusalem Crosses, re-flecting the Church's Celtic foundation and its putative links with the Crusades. The ring of Glory, comprising five concentric growth rings, symbolises God the Father and Eternity, and the Holy Spirit is portrayed in Dove and Fire symbols.

The left-hand panel symbolises Healing Ministry, Preaching, the three Christian Tradi-tions of worship in the present building, Prayer and Praise. The panel on the right shows the five local industries through five centuries; agriculture, iron-works, coal-mining, cotton-spinning and steel-making.

Outside the church, to the south side lies the churchyard, extended in the middle of the 19th century, containing the Crawfurd Mausoleum erected by Captain Thomas Craw-furd, and on its north side the actual grave of himself and his wife. The Mausoleum contains only their effigies in the dress of the period. Captain Crawfurd captured Dumbarton Castle from the supporters of Mary Queen of Scots in 1571, three years af-ter Mary had fled to England and captivity.

The inscription2 on the north face of this little structure was replicated in 1929, and erected inside the church on the south wall of the nave. The graves of a number of ministers lie adjacent to the south wall.

This is by no means a full description of the church; only a personal visit can do justice to its history, when, on examination, most of the features will be found to be self-explanatory.

The completion of the extensive programme of restoration of the building has left the church in better condition than it has probably ever been at any time.

In these centuries, as elsewhere in mediaeval Europe, there were developments of the hierarchy, the parochial system and the religious houses. In this period Scotland's main links were with France, England being a common enemy. Scots were influenced by their participation in the Council of Basel in the 15th century, and the primary reforming influences in Scotland in this and the sub-sequent century were the conciliar movement, Hus, Luther, Zwingli and, above all, Calvin. The Reformation culminated in its legal establishment in 1560. In the 17th century, following the union of the Crowns of Scotland and England in 1603, attempts to con-form the Church of Scotland forcibly to the Church of England, particularly the latter's hierarchical structure and its subservience to the Crown, led to conflict and persecution, ending in 1690 with the Revolution Settlement establishing the reformed church in its Presbyterian form as the national church of Scotland.

From mid 18th to mid 19th century there was considerable controversy and schism in the church, much of it focused on the church's relations with the civil authority; the largest 'Disruption' was in 1843, when over a third of the Church seceded over freedom from civil intervention in the appointment of ministers. Since then most of those schisms have been healed, the majority of each of the separate reformed churches being now reunited, following a large reunion in 1900 and the largest in 1929. At each of the major set-tlements there was a minority which did not accept it: at the Reformation in 1560 some in outlying areas adhered to Rome; at the Revolution Settlement in 1690 some adhered to the episcopalian rather than Presbyterian form; at the 1900 union some continued as The Free Church of Scotland, and at the 1929 union some continued as the United Free Church of Scotland.

Inscription: HEIR LYIS THOMAS CRAVFVRD OF IORDANHIL SEXT SON TO LAVRENCE CRAVFVRD OF KILBIRNY AND IONET KER HIS SPOVS ELDEST DOCHTER TO ROBERT KER OF KERRISLAND 1594. (Here lies Tho-mas Crawford of Jordanhill, sixth son to Lawrence Crawford of Kilbirnie and Janet Ker, his spouse, eldest daughter to Robert Ker of Kerrisland. 1594)
Crawford, D., 02/06/99