The Glencairn Aisle and Monument

Project Description

We aim to preserve and restore the Glencairn Aisle and its AD1600 ‘glorious tomb’ monument to the Cunningham Earls of Glencairn who were based in Kilmaurs. This is Scotland’s oldest post Reformation memorial and associated crypt. We wished to reconnect this largely forgotten site with the locals from Kilmaurs, the people of Ayrshire and Scotland. The building lies hidden behind the bulk of the kirk and invisible from the main road due to the height of the churchyard wall. Even some locals who have lived in the village all of their lives were unaware of the existence of the aisle and its historic monument.

The building is physically attached to the Church of Scotland’s St Maurs-Glencairn Kirk. A local preservation group was set up and we work closely through Zoom calls with Clan Cunningham International, the Cunningham family and the kirk minister. We researched and posted a detailed Wikipedia article ‘The Glencairn Aisle and Monument’ and a Wikimedia photograph gallery and published 500 copies of our ‘History of the Glencairn Aisle’ booklet and then issued these without a charge to visitors on guided tours, the local primary school, local library, Ayrshire history societies, Community Council, local councillors, local shops, the Church Monument Society, etc.

We set up a Facebook group that has regular posts on our events, history of the Cunninghams, and general news with 328 members at present. We have a visitor book to record those who attend and to collect their experiences. We have given guided tours to 200 visitors all told on 12 open days and candle lit evenings, local primary school puil’s tour, Kilmaurs Walking Festival, Clan Cunningham members, the kirk congregation, Robert Burns World Federation president and president elect, local historians, etc. We have worked with a local artist who has produced bespoke paintings, etc. that have been sold in her shop and at our events with a percentage going to our funds. A ‘Glencairn Aisle’ lecture series throughout North and East Ayrshire has raised funds through fees and donations.

We worked with our partners to identify the preservation priorities for the AD 1600 mural monument to James and Margaret Cunningham, 7th Earl and Countess of Glencairn and employed the award winning ‘Graciela Ainsworth Sculpture Conservation’ to carry out the preservation and restoration work that was undertaken in July 2022. We employed a Building Surveyor who inspected the aisle and monument as well as confirming, as was suspected, that at the least the top two courses of ashlar stone on the west and the east side of the aisle are noticeably poorer quality 1846 replacements for ‘robbed’ stone taken by the cobblers and others in the village to act as whetstones to sharpen their leather knives or as building material.

We have worked with the Kilmaurs Community Council on a series of history interpretation boards that cover the aisle and the other significant historical sites of interest in Kilmaurs.