Scheduled MonumentsScotlandAlloway Kirk

Alloway Kirk

Scotland
HES SM308
Nation
Scotland
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Historic Environment Scotland

Overview

History & significance

Alloway Kirk is a medieval parish church located in Ayrshire, Scotland, dating from the twelfth century or later. The surviving structure comprises the ruins of a simple rectangular stone building, with evidence of the original windows and doorways still visible in the walls. The church is situated in the churchyard at Alloway, which contains burials extending back several centuries and demonstrates the site's long continuity as a place of Christian worship and burial. The kirk achieved particular cultural significance through its association with Robert Burns, the eighteenth-century Scottish poet, who set his narrative poem Tam o' Shanter in the surrounding landscape and made reference to the church within the work.

Alloway Kirk is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM308. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Alloway Kirk?

Alloway Kirk is a medieval parish church located in Ayrshire, Scotland, dating from the twelfth century or later. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM308.

Who is responsible for protecting Alloway Kirk?

Alloway Kirk is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM308.

What other scheduled monuments are near Alloway Kirk?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Brigend Castle (0.4 km), Alloway,motte (0.7 km), Wallace's Stone,cross-incised stone (1.5 km).

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Everything a full report reveals about Alloway Kirk

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Alloway Kirk's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Stat Accounts
The parish Statistical Accounts of the 1790s and 1830s, describing life, work and population here.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.

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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Alloway Kirk

Alloway Kirk stands on Inverclyde Group, bedrock that formed in the Osagean. The rock here is sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.