In the 15th century, the North Sea formed a vital highway, transporting not only goods and commodities but also ideas, skills and culture around the European seaboard. At the same time the Church of Rome with its doctrines and common language (Latin) forged a deep unity across the continent. The Reformation – a movement triggered by those who felt excluded by religious hierarchies and resented the rich ‘buying’ their way to heaven - turned this on its head. The countries of Europe chose different paths to follow: while those in the south generally retained the Catholic faith, northern countries tended towards the more austere practices of Calvinism. In Scotland there was a particularly violent backlash – fuelled by John Knox – against the furnishings and trappings of the Roman church.

Thankfully for posterity, Fowlis was spared the tempest of destruction suffered by many churches, and any reforming zeal seems mainly to have been directed against heads and faces – as the font, especially, bears witness. Fowlis was allocated to the diocese of St Andrews, and from 1612 to 1616 Andrew, 7th Lord Gray suffered a barrage of demands from the Synod of Fife to abolish those ‘monumentes of idolatrie’ – the paintings - in the church. To his eternal credit, and perhaps because he and other members of his family were reluctant converts (rebuked at times for lack of respect), the paintings remained ‘undeleitt’. Their ‘rediscovery’ sometime after 1746 suggests that they were eventually covered over, but fortunately this had done no lasting harm and by this time attitudes had changed.

For the local congregation, the retention of the familiar artwork may have been a comfort in times of great upheaval. Another welcome continuity may have been the appointment of Nicholas Spittell, the last Provost of Fowlis Collegiate Church, as the first Protestant minister of Fowlis Parish. Owing to an initial shortage of trained ministers, the new parishes were often combined, and Spittell was also in charge of Lundie (this is the reason why there is no manse at Fowlis). The earliest surviving communion tokens (metal discs which entitled the bearer to partake of the Lord’s Supper) are stamped ‘F & L’ and the date 1756, along with the initials of the then minister, James Anderson. When Fowlis was later joined with Liff, the tokens changed to reflect this. The records of the new Kirk Session, which survive from 1685, meticulously record such details as the subject of the Sunday sermon, the amount in the collection plate, the preparations for communion, payments made to the poor and sick (the church played a vital role in social care) and – regularly – the drunkenness, fornication, Sabbath-breaking and other misdemeanours of the parishioners. The jougs must have been much in demand!

In 1669 the Fowlis estate was sold to the Murrays of Ochtertyre, who, as agriculturalists and land improvers, were responsible for the look of today’s farming landscape and for many of the older buildings. The Grays, however, retained their right of burial in the chancel, and the rood screen imparted a measure of privacy, separating this from the nave, where all services were now held. At some point, however – possibly during the repairs of 1842 - the rood screen was finally dismantled and re-erected further up the aisle, immediately west of the priest’s door.

James Stuart, the local schoolmaster, writing in 1865, describes entering the nave from the chancel via the rood screen doors and beneath the ‘huge modern box’ – whatever that was - which ‘rears’ over them. On either side of this structure he can make out ‘some neat carved work of olden date’. Above the box, and facing down the nave, hangs the Crucifixion, and above that a composite arrangement of the saints and apostles and the detached fragments. By the time MacGibbon and Ross visited, in the course of researching their Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland (1896-7), the paintings had been moved to the east gable. When they were reduced in size – as they plainly have been – is not known, but this had clearly been done before these latest developments.

By the 1840s the condition of the building was causing serious concern and major repairs and refurbishment were undertaken. The old barrel-vaulted roof was replaced by a ceiling (which obscured the top portion of the west window). A large stove was installed in the middle of the nave, and the absence of seating (the common folk had to stand or bring their own stools) was addressed by the installation of box pews. The orientation of the church was reversed by placing the pulpit below the west window.

This was only a stop-gap however, and by the 1880s it was clear that if this wonderful church was to be preserved for future generations a major restoration was required. In 1889 the Dundee architect T S Robertson was asked to undertake the task.

Robertson replaced the wooden belfry with a substantial stone bell-cote and the ‘oppressive’ ceiling with a magnificent open timber roof - still a striking feature of the church today. He also re-orientated the interior to face east again and removed – once and for all – the rood screen. Relocating the paintings to the side walls allowed a view again of the lovely ocular window. A new set of pews, in two rows with a central aisle and in dark oak to match the pulpit, completed the transformation.

The final chapter in the history of St. Marnock’s Church - the 21st century - sees its incorporation into the new Sidlaw Parish, followed by the decision of the Church of Scotland that it should close as a place of worship. At time of writing (April 2026) it has not yet been put on the open market. The charity Friends of St. Marnock’s, in partnership with Scotland’s Historic Buildings Trust, is striving to save and preserve this unique building for the local community, for scholars of art history and for all lovers of Scotland’s cultural heritage.

Post-Reformation History