Medieval church tower
St John's Tower
The bell tower of Ayr's first parish church, where Robert the Bruce held a parliament on 26 April 1315.
Hidden gem
St John's Tower is all that is left of the Church of St John the Baptist, Ayr's original parish church. The church is first named in a document of 1233. The tower was added against its west gable in the 15th century.
On 26 April 1315 Robert the Bruce held a parliament of Scotland in this church. The nobles who met here settled who would inherit the crown after him.
In the 1650s Oliver Cromwell's army built its citadel around the church and used it as a storehouse and lookout. A new church, the Auld Kirk, was built to replace it. Around 1736 stones from the old church went into the tolbooth steeple on the Sandgate. Only the tower survived, and the Marquess of Bute restored it in 1914.
The tower stands among houses in the Fort area, a few minutes' walk from the Low Green. Volunteers from the Friends of St John's Tower open it on some heritage open days, so check their website before you go.
- Church first recorded
- 1233
- Tower built
- 15th century
- Parliament
- 26 April 1315
- Restored
- 1914
- Cared for by
- Friends of St John's Tower (FrOST)
Nearby
- ScotmintCoins, medals and banknotes · 215 m away
- Ayrshire ArchivesArchive and search room · 240 m away
- Cromwell's Citadel walls17th-century fort · 250 m away
- South Ayrshire Council customer servicesCouncil · 261 m away
- Business Gateway AyrBusiness advice · 261 m away
- Siobhian Brown MSPConstituency MSP · 264 m away
Where this comes from
- Canmore (trove.scot): Ayr, St John the Baptist's Church
- Destination South Ayrshire: St John's Tower
- Wikipedia: Ayr
- St John's Tower (FrOST)
Listing data from OpenStreetMap, node 861899893, last edited 14 November 2010. Something wrong or missing? Fix it on OpenStreetMap and it shows here after the next update.