St Mary's Kirkyard

About St Mary's Kirkyard

The site of an ancient place of worship with a fine view over St Mary’s Loch. Today only the gravestones remain of St Mary’s of the Lowes - ‘the Kirk in the Forest’. The kirk itself has vanished entirely

Some claim that this is the Kirk in the Forest where William Wallace was proclaimed Guardian of Scotland. Records show that there was a place of worship here as early as 1275. Family names include Scott, Kerr, Bryden, Linton, Pringle and others.

To commemorate the determination of the persecuted Covenanters of the 17th century to maintain their beliefs, an annual ‘blanket preaching’ still takes place at the end of July within the kirkyard. This recalls the days when the outlawed Covenanters were forced to hold their acts of worship out of doors in secluded places.