Quatuor Mosaïques III

Around 1440, in the reign of King James II, William Crichton, then Lord Chancellor of Scotland, began this Collegiate Church of St Mary and St Kentigern, which may have been the site of an even older Christian shrine, and by 1449 his church, with his castle nearby, was complete. ‘Collegiate’ describes churches where priests and singing boys prayed daily for the souls of the great families who built and owned them. At Crichton a provost, eight prebendaries, two choir boys and a sacrist were appointed to pray for the souls of the Crichtons.

Lord Crichton led one of the three greatest Scottish families of the fifteenth century.  The Livingstones, the Douglases and the Crichtons were often at war with each other.  If the church looks like part of a fortified building, it is a reminder of dangerous days in this part of Scotland. After the Reformation, stripped back to an earth floor, with all the glass gone from the windows and most of the lovely medieval stone tracery destroyed, the church had become almost a ruin and only the great chancel roof survived. By 1569 it was being used as a parish church, and restoration work began in the 1580s. Further restoration was carried out in the 18th century and in the 1820s.

Used today for a variety of events including weddings and concerts, the building is now in the care of Crichton Collegiate Church Trust. Over the past 15 years the trust has completed two phases of restoration work, including a full restoration of the organ built by J Brook & Company of Glasgow in 1899.