The Kirkyard
around the Parish
Church (many thanks to
Jim Walker FSA (Scot) for the following text)
The
exterior of the church on the south side shows the various building
stages in stone. At the southeast and southwest corners of the building
the 13th century roofline is visible halfway up the wall.
The original door is situated about three-quarters of the distance
along the south wall from the east gable. At ground level the lower
jambs are still in situ
and bear the plain chamfer typical of the period.
Just west of the built-up doorway are the outlines of a mid-seventeenth
century window, having a sundial of the same period built into its
western jamb.
To the left of the front
entrance to the church, on the wall beneath
the external staircase, a stone bearing part of the date is clearly
visible: the date being (16)59 when the North Aisle was added.
In the churchyard the oldest
visible gravestone is
dated 1654. The
earliest is a recumbent stone dated 1625 and is now grass-covered near
the south wall of the upper kirk yard.
Of the four flagstones
placed
upright against the wall of the east staircase, three are worthy of
mention:
M T S
(Master /
Minister Thomas Stuart) first minister of the kirk who died in 1667.
The Rev. Michael Robe who died in 1721
and was the
fourth minister of the kirk.
The
Wardlaw family stone bears details of various members of the family,
hereditary Baron-Baillies of Cumbernauld and Biggar. The first and last
dates inscribed are 1722 and 1773.