Basic Site Details | Name: | Marykirk, St. Marys Wynd | | City or county: | Stirling | | Country: | Scotland | | Parish: | Stirling | | Status: | Demolished | | Grid ref: | | | Notes: | The church was commissioned by the pioneering female archaeologist Christian MacLagan in memory of her brother. She purchased the land in 1865 and in 1866 Maclagan engaged Pilkington and Bell to design the church. The church opened on 2nd April 1868 under the auspices of the Free Church of Scotland.
Written descriptions suggest the Marykirk’s features were repeated in Pilkington’s other churches, like a rose window of intersecting triangles, seen in Dundee’s McCheyne Church. Marykirk’s ground-floor contained a row of six ‘trefoil headed’ windows ‘divided into two groups by a pilaster’.
After a complicated court case the church building is handed over to the Church of Scotland by MacLagan in 1878, because absolute ownership was never transferred to the Free Church, and she had a long dispute with them. It remained an active Church of Scotland church until 1934, when the congregation was amalgamated with the Erskine Church.
The church was then bought by the Free Church of Scotland and used for its monthly Gaelic services from at least 1942 to 1944. By 1953 it was been used as a stor by tradesmen and had been demolished by 1955.
No plans survive for the building, and there is only one known photograph in the Stirling Art Gallery. It can be seen on the blog:
https://blog.historicenvironment.scot/2020/03/mysterious-buildings-hidden-women-lost-photos/
| Alternative Names| The following alternative names are associated with this building/design: | | | Name | Current name? | Notes |  | Marykirk Free Church of Scotland | | Became Church of Scotland in 1878 |
Building Type Classification| The building is classified under the following categories: | | | Classification | Original classification? | Notes | | Church | | |
Street Addresses| The following street addresses are associated with this building: | | | Address | Main entrance? | Notes | | Marykirk, St Mary's Wynd | | |
PeopleDesign and Construction| The following individuals or organisations have carried out design/construction work. Where architects or practices worked together, matching letters appear beside their names in the Partnership Group column. | | | Name | Role | Partnership Group | From | To | Notes | | Pilkington & Bell | | | 1866 | 1868 | This was their first building for a living female client (ie. not a legacy) |
Clients| The following individuals or organisations have commissioned work on this building/design: | | | Name | Notes | | Christian Maclagan | Archaeologist, 1811-1901 |
ReferencesArchive References| The following archives hold material relating to this building: | | | Source | Archive name | Source catalogue no. | Notes | | Courtesy of Morag Cross | Information sent to DSA | | |
|