Notes:
Cairngryffe Parish Church
Carmichael
ML12 6PQ
UK
http://www.cairngryffekirk.org.uk
Its Origins

Carmichael Church was founded at the beginning of the 12th Century and was connected at this time with the see of Glasgow. The site was not the present one, but lay approximately a mile south-east of the modern building, on a hill still known as Kirkhill, within the Carmichael Estate. This early church was dedicated to St Michael.

Early in the reign of Robert Bruce (1306 – 1329) the King granted the right of patronage of Carmichael parish to the Douglases, a highly influential Scottish magnate family. The Douglas Earls retained this right until four hundred years later when it passed to the Carmichael family.

At the site of the present church two reminders exist of the former structure of Kirkhill. The outside stone stair leading to the “Carmichael loft” is pre-Reformation, and was transported from the former church. In addition to this, many old and interesting gravestones can be found in the Kirkyard which pre-date the present building; these also were brought from the old site at Kirkhill.