Stobo Kirk

Stobo Kirk stands beside the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, six miles south-west of Peebles. It is an ancient Church of Scotland building dedicated to St Mungo and close to the Easton Burn. The site has held a church since the 6th century when St Kentigern, also known as St Mungo, founded many churches in the area. Stobo was once the main church for a wide region with smaller chapels at places like Dawyck and Drumelzier. The present building began in the 12th century, built on an unusual north-east to south-west axis rather than the usual east–west alignment. The kirk’s long history reflects Scotland’s religious changes. In the 15th and 16th centuries local people grew weary of Roman rule and sought reform. Canon Adam Colquhoun’s family succession helped fuel this desire. Unlike many Catholic churches, Stobo Kirk survived the Reformation largely intact, keeping its 12th-century nave, chancel and windows. The tower was raised in the 16th century and later restored in 1863 by architect John Lessels and again in 1929. Inside, the church reveals traces of its medieval past, including a damaged Celtic cross rebuilt into the nave. Visitors enter through a 12th-century Norman doorway of cedar wood from Dawyck estate. The late 15th- or 16th-century porch shows grooves from slate pencils and possibly arrowheads, used before weekly archery practice after the Battle of Flodden. Inside hangs an old jougs, once used to punish parishioners. The north aisle chapel, rebuilt in 1928, contains a standing stone and tombstones including one for Robert Vesey, vicar who died in 1473. A stained glass window recalls St Kentigern’s baptism of Merlin on the Altar Stone near Drumelzier. Brass lamps from the Balfour family of Stobo Castle, made in Nuremberg between 1693 and 1701, hang in the building.