Parish Church of Dunlop

"The church of Dunlop stands at the west end of the village. The burying-ground surrounding it falls away rather abruptly on the south, where it is flanked by a beautiful dell watered by the Glazert. The former church, built in 1766, having become too small for the population, the heritors, in 1835, decided to erect a new one. The ground plain of the present edifice is of oblong form, lying east and west, with an aisle projecting northward from its centre. The east end of the building is ornamented by a tower 60 feet in height and crowned with an embattled parapet. The aisle belonged to the family of Dunlop of Dunlop. In 1882, Thomas Douglas Cuninghame Graham, the present proprietor of the estate of Dunlop, inserted in the principal windows of the church a series of designs in very handsome stained glass, by Powell of London."

"The church of Dunlop [originally] belonged to the abbey of Kilwinning, the monks enjoying the rectorial tithes, and appointing a vicar for serving the cure. Owing to the loss of the records of the abbey, little is known of the ancient history of this church. Some of the vicars were John Restoun, circa 1487, Sir Andrew Merschell, circa 1504, and John Mair, Professor of Theology, said to have been the instructor of John Knox. At the period of the Reformation, the vicarage was held by Mr John Houston, and the whole profits of his benefice were leased to William Cuninghame of Aitket for payment of £78 yearly. In 1566, the church lands of the vicarage were granted by Mr John Houston, the vicar, with consent of Gavin Hamilton, commendator of Kilwinning, and patron of the vicarage, to William Cuninghame of Aitket - the vicar, however, reserving to himself and his successors, the manse, garden, and an acre of land adjoining the manse. The first minister of Dunlop under Presbyterian church government, was Hans Hamilton."

"In the 'Picture House', a vaulted apartment occupying the south-eastern portion of the burying-ground, is an elegant marble spire. The clock by which the spire is graced was the gift of G. Fullarton, Esq., Kerelaw, and the bell was presented to the parish by James M'Cosh, Esq., of Merksworth."