The Old Parish Church on Cassillis Road, Maybole was built in 1808 and finally closed its doors to worshipers in 2005. It has lain empty since with its general condition deteriorating over the years. Having been left largely unsecured, it became a magnet for vandals who went about smashing windows, spray painting and generally doing everything they could to wreck the building. This deterioration reached its climax on the 15th of July 2015 when the building caught fire around 6am and was completely gutted. The future of the site is uncertain, however there is planning in place for a large number of houses to be constructed on neighbouring land and there is speculation that the church could now be demolished to make way for more houses.
Buildings at Risk register entry: http://www.buildingsatrisk.org.uk/details/913615
We visited the church on a sunny May afternoon in 2014 and had a good explore. The site consists of a large, square plan sandstone church with a smaller, rectangular church hall behind it. The whole site was very overgrown at the time and the buildings were lying open for anyone to walk in. There was nothing left in either of the buildings but it was good to have a look at the woodwork and stained glass windows. Both buildings were heavily vandalised and there was evidence of the buildings being used by homeless people.
Church hall with main building in background:
Inside the hall (sorry, it was quite dark):
Windows in main church, we suspect the organ used to be in the gap between them as the blower was still there:
Stairs up to gallery and a bit of graffiti that made us chuckle:
On the morning of Wednesday 15th of July I heard on the local radio that the A77 through Maybole was closed due to a building fire at a church - immediately I could guess where it was. Some photos posted by someone on Facebook shortly afterwards confirmed it:
Credit: A Facebook user
A re-visited to the church today established the extent of the damage: the main building is gutted with the roof gone, the blackened roof beams are now exposed. The road is still partially closed while cleanup work is going on and the whole site was secured. Interestingly there was a large digger parked immediately next to the building. It appears that the church hall behind escaped the destruction.
Buildings at Risk register entry: http://www.buildingsatrisk.org.uk/details/913615
We visited the church on a sunny May afternoon in 2014 and had a good explore. The site consists of a large, square plan sandstone church with a smaller, rectangular church hall behind it. The whole site was very overgrown at the time and the buildings were lying open for anyone to walk in. There was nothing left in either of the buildings but it was good to have a look at the woodwork and stained glass windows. Both buildings were heavily vandalised and there was evidence of the buildings being used by homeless people.
Church hall with main building in background:
Inside the hall (sorry, it was quite dark):
Windows in main church, we suspect the organ used to be in the gap between them as the blower was still there:
Stairs up to gallery and a bit of graffiti that made us chuckle:
On the morning of Wednesday 15th of July I heard on the local radio that the A77 through Maybole was closed due to a building fire at a church - immediately I could guess where it was. Some photos posted by someone on Facebook shortly afterwards confirmed it:
Credit: A Facebook user
A re-visited to the church today established the extent of the damage: the main building is gutted with the roof gone, the blackened roof beams are now exposed. The road is still partially closed while cleanup work is going on and the whole site was secured. Interestingly there was a large digger parked immediately next to the building. It appears that the church hall behind escaped the destruction.
