Kirkcaldy Old Parish Church, Kirk Wynd, Kirkcaldy

The kirk first appeared in written record in 1240 when it was consecrated to St. Patrick and St. Bryce by the Roman Catholic Bishop David de Bernham, Bishop of St. Andrews. It is thought to have been built on the site of a previous Celtic church, established by monks from St. Columba’s monastery on Iona in the 7th century. The presence of a stone cist in the graveyard and burial remains found nearby suggest that the site of the present church has been used as a burial place from at least the Early Medieval Era. There are no records for the earliest period of the church until after the Reformation in 1560, where it appears in Kirkcaldy town records, with the first Session records dating from…

The kirk is situated on a hill overlooking the east of the town, not far from the harbour. The main building is a Victorian structure designed by Archibald Elliott, erected between 1807–1808 to replace an earlier structure that had become dilapidated. This part of the kirk contains a series of stained glass windows by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, from 1886, which were installed by William Morris, a set by the firm of Alexander Gascoigne of Nottingham, and more modern examples from John Clark in 1986 and in 1994, by Crear McCartney. The kirk tower is of Norman design has been dated to the 16th century. It is constructed from ashlar sandstone and follows the model of a mediaeval Scottish tower…