Alan Graham - Scottish Photoblog

It took a bit of digging around to find out the story behind this old ruin (and I know you all love a story, don’t you?).

The tower is all that is left of this old building - the rest was knocked down in 1931 when the Cathcart Old Parish Church moved to grander premises nearby. I believe the tower has been standing for over 300 years.

The tower bell was transferred to the new church, however I have no idea why the tower was left standing, yet the rest of the church demolished. Previously the whole tower was illuminated, however that seems to have stopped at least a year or so ago.

At the bottom of the tower, two flung-open doors just begged us to go in and nosey around - sadly the tower is an empty shell inside, although you can make out the staircases, as well as a number of fireplaces on the higher floors.

The sparsely-populated graveyard also contains a few interesting finds: a martyr’s tomb (to 3 Covenanters killed by government troops during one of the more vicious Scotland-England conflicts), and a gravestone with a long sword on it, which is rumoured to be the resting place of a Knight from The Crusades.