Maybole, Abbot Street, St Mary's Church

The Oliginal church, dedicated to St Mary, was founded by Sir John Kennedy of Dunure in the early 1370s, and by 1382 it had been established as a collegiate church with endowments for one clerk and three chaplains. Its early foundation makes it one of the first collegiate churches in Scotland, and it marks the beginnings of a fashion that was to flourish in the following two centuries.

The present building, which has recently been restored, consists of the rootless remains of a rectangular church with a barrel-vaulted sacristy opening from the north wall. Although the original church was built in the late 14th century, the majority of the present fabric appears to be of 15th century), date but built in a deliberately archaic style. The earlier church was probably smaller than the present building and may have been extensively remodelled in the 15th century, with the only 14th century), details now visible being a narrow lancet window in the south wall and a nearby dressed corner. The fine south-west doorway is in imitation of 13th century work and is surmounted by an armorial panel bearing the Kennedy armd. At the east end of the north wall there is a tomb-recess with a pointed arch-head which, like the south-west doorway, is decorated with dog-tooth omament in a deliberately old-fashioned style. In the 17th century), a burial-vault was added on the north side of the church for the laird ofCulzean (No. 24); it has an elaborate doorway above which there is a large, but sadly rather decayed armorial panel bearing the arms of Kennedy impaled with those of an unknown family.

During the Reformation the house of the provost of the church, which stood close to the High Street, was the scene of a celebrated debate in 1561 between John Knox and Quentin Kennedy, abbot of Crossraguel.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Clyde Estuary and Central Region’, (1985).