Dairsie Old Parish Church
(St. Mary's Church)

Old Parish Church, Dairsie
©2011 Gazetteer for Scotland

Located on the north bank of the River Eden, a half-mile (1 km) south of Dairsie, is the Old Dairsie Parish Church (also known as St. Mary's Church). Built by John Spottiswoode, Archbishop of St. Andrews (1565 - 1639), who lived in the adjacent Dairsie Castle, the church is an oblong ashlar building with an octagonal bell-tower. It is exceptional for a rural church, mixing the simple Classical style with Renaissance and Post-Reformation Gothic.

The original flat lead roof was replaced a pitched slate roof in 1794 and the windows were restored in the late 1830s. The church closed for worship in 1966.

A church was first recorded on this site in 1183 and it was probably rebuilt c.1300, when it was granted to the Convent of St Andrews.

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