New KilpatrickParish Church · Bearsden
Sunlight through the four lancets of the Resurrection Window

Heritage

Stories in glass and stone

There has been a church on this site since 1649; the present building dates from 1807. It is listed Category A by Historic Environment Scotland, chiefly because of its stained glass: more than a century of Scottish glass under one roof. Windows that have taught the gospel in colour to every generation that sat beneath them.

The windows

One window at a time: who made it, who gave it, and the story it tells. Come and see them in the light; they change with every hour.

The Resurrection Window, four lancets from the Nativity to the empty tomb
The Resurrection Window

From the Nativity to the empty tomb

Four lancets telling the whole story, ending with the words at the tomb: “He is not here; he is risen.”

The Good Samaritan window
Daniel Cottier, with McCulloch & Gow · 1884

The Good Samaritan window

Thought to be the earliest church window McCulloch & Gow made for Cottier.

The Crossing the Bar window
C. E. Stewart, after J. T. Stewart

Crossing the Bar

Three lights, remaking a design lost when Leslie Church in Pollokshields was destroyed, in Stewart’s acid-etched glass.

There is also glass by Robert Anning Bell, Douglas Strachan, Norman Macdougall, James Ballantine, Gordon Webster and Eilidh Keith: a walk through Scottish stained glass from the 1880s to recent years.

The church above the old kirkyard

The kirkyard

Generations of this parish rest around the church.

Looking for a family grave? The heritage group may be able to help. .

A short history

1649A church is built here, on the hill where the parish still gathers.
1807The present church is begun, to a design by James Gillespie Graham, and enlarged several times over the next twenty years.
1884The Good Samaritan window arrives, the beginning of more than a century of glass, given one window at a time.
1888Hugh MacLure extends the building and adds the tower.
1971The church is listed by Historic Environment Scotland; in 2001 it is raised to Category A for its stained glass.
TodayA congregation still named after a man who left, still learning to notice where God is at work in this place.

The heritage group

New members are always welcome; no expertise needed, only curiosity.

Each September we open our doors for Doors Open Days, with tours of the church and graveyard, stained-glass demonstrations and talks.

Ask the heritage group

Family history, the windows, the kirkyard, a visit for your group. Your question goes straight to them.