Anwoth old kirk

Anwoth Old Church stands in a quiet churchyard near the village of Anwoth in Dumfries and Galloway. Built in 1626, the roofless ruin still shows its thick stone walls and a bellcote on the west gable. Inside, the south wall holds a panel marking its 1710 rebuilding by William Maxwell and Nicola Stewart. A large Gordon family tomb dominates the centre, carved with skulls, scrolls and the family’s arms. Nearby, a 12th-century cross slab bears a carved cross, and a mausoleum in Egypto-Grecian style marks later burials. The church is best known as the ministry of Samuel Rutherford, who arrived in 1627 and preached here until his banishment in 1636. Rutherford’s presence left a lasting mark on the building and its records. The churchyard also contains the grave of John Bell, a Covenanter shot in 1685. In 2025 archaeologists claimed the field beside the church held the world’s oldest football pitch, dating from at least 1627. Rutherford reportedly stopped Sunday games by ordering a row of stones laid across the pitch. Visitors walk among the long, narrow walls of the roofless church, reading inscriptions and examining the Gordon tomb’s carvings. The west gable’s bellcote still rises above the ruins, and the 12th-century cross slab stands in the grass nearby. The Egypto-Grecian mausoleum adds a later contrast to the medieval slab. The churchyard’s quiet slopes overlook farmland, offering a place to reflect on centuries of worship and change.