CHURCH Overview

There has been a church on this site since at least the 12th century. The current church was constructed during the 15th century, possibly incorporating parts of older buildings, beginning with the vaulted stone choir, built in 1439 by Adam Hepburn of Hailes.

Whitekirk has been a hugely important pilgrimage site since medieval times, with a nearby (now lost) popular holy well, dedicated to St Mary, attracting thousands of visitors per year (apparently 15,000 pilgrims in 1413 alone). In 1435, Papal Envoy Aeneas Piccolomini was nearly shipwrecked off the nearby coast. Once landed onshore at Dunbar, he walked 10 miles barefoot from there to the Holy Well at Whitekirk to give thanks to Our Lady for his safe deliverance. Piccolomini became Pope Pius II in 1447.

The cruciform church, with its robust central square tower, has a remarkable history. James IV visited in 1497, leaving money for the care of the local sick and poor, covenanting preacher John Blackadder held his final Conventicle on the hill behind the church in 1678. In 1914, the building was engulfed in flames, its roof and remarkable wooden interior, with all fixtures and fittings, were entirely destroyed and only the walls were left standing. The fire was blamed on Suffragettes, after a suffrage-supporting note was found nearby, causing a national outrage. It was rebuilt and restored the following year by noted Scottish architect Robert Lorimer.

Lorimer installed a striking timber wagon roof over the nave and transepts and designed the carved stone communion table and font and the beautiful wooden pulpit and revolving pyramidal lectern. As all of the windows were also lost in the blaze, new stained glass was commissioned to fill the tracery. The firm of John Hardman & Co replicated a Charles Eamer Kempe memorial window to Helen Catherine, wife of the 11th Earl of Haddington and Karl Parsons produced a series of windows portraying St Andrew, St Mary, St John the Evangelist and St Luke the Evangelist along with a small round window in the south transept depicting three pouting seraphim.

Parsons’ St Andrew window contains a thumbnailed sized image of a mermaid basking on Bass Rock and his St John window has a miniscule inscription, almost imperceptible to the eye, reading “If all were understood, all would be forgiven”. This message is believed to be a veiled reference to the Suffragette fire, though this has yet to be proven.

The central bell tower is home to a long disused doocot and an historic tithe barn sits behind the church, now a private home. The historic kirkyard outside contains many interesting memorials and efforts have also been made in recent years to locate the nearby lost holy well, which is believed to have dried up in the 19th century due to agricultural irrigation works. 

On 29th April 2021 St Mary’s Parish Church was folded into the new Parish of Traprain. The final regular service at the church took place a few months later, on 5th Sept 2021. In the Spring of 2025, the building was transferred from the Church of Scotland into the ownership of the Whitekirk Church New Life Trust, who have reopened the building for quiet reflection, pilgrim visits, musical evenings, weddings and other events.

Disclaimer

The information about churches in Scotland’s Churches Scheme has been provided by the congregations or taken from the Historic Scotland list and published sources, in particular, the Buildings of Scotland volumes and the RIAS Illustrated Architectural Guides. To contact this specific church please complete the Contact this Church form above. The information is not authoritative; please contact Scotland’s Churches Trust to let us know of any errors or omissions.