Temple Old Kirk Friends latest news and upcoming events

13th Jun '25 - Temple Old Kirk is a hit on Scotland's Garden Open Day despite not being a garden!

On 18th May between 2pm and 4:30pm, a lovely late spring day, Scotland was alive with people seeking and enjoying gardens. Keen not lose the opportunity to interest visitors in the Old Kirk TOKF Trustees welcomed anyone who looked into the Kirkyard and seemed at all curious about it. It was true some of the 121 people who came into the Kirkyard looked bemused to find there wasn't a garden but were quickly impressed by the Old Kirk, and even fascinated by gravestones. As ever John Craig's grave was very popular, and I was delighted by how many visitors left knowing how to spot a 'flying soul'! The star though was the Old Kirk itself, still surrounded by fencing, but no less captivating for that.

To have attracted 121 people was some achievement but it must be said that the Old Kirk is just across the road from the most beautiful garden in the area!

Any outcomes? Quite a few took either leaflets or gave their contact details to receive our history of the Old Kirk. Most important lots of those we talked with left enthused, even a little in love with the remarkable Old Kirk and its graves.

4th Jun '25 - Professor Alice Roberts, Host of Channel 4 Time Team and BBC2 Digging for Britain, visits Temple Old Kirk

Professor Alice Roberts was filming in Temple Old Kirk, 4 May 2025, following a visit to Rosslyn Chapel with Lizzie Swarbrick, a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of Art History, University of Edinburgh, who is working on a research project about the medieval art and architecture of Roslin (alternatively Rosslyn) church.

Alice has said:

"I'm working on an exciting documentary - an investigative journey into the Middle Ages - peeling away layers of myth and history to get at real history & archaeology… and that's all I can reveal for now!"

Alice Roberts - I'm working on an exciting documentary … | Facebook

Alice is at the Queens Hall Edinburgh, 10 November 2025, to discuss her new book:

"Domination, the narrative will lead audiences from a secluded valley in South Wales to the shores of Brittany; from the heart of the Roman Empire in a time of political turmoil to the ancient city of Corinth in the footsteps of the apostle Paul; from Alexandria in the fourth century to Constantinople.

"As the Roman Empire crumbled in Western Europe, a shadow of power remained, almost perfectly mapping onto its disappearing territories. And then, it continued to spread. Unearthing the archaeological clues and challenging long-established histories, Professor Roberts tells a remarkable story about the relationship between the Roman Empire and Christianity."

Alice Roberts - Tour - On Tour May 2025

Lizzie Swarbrick is working on a postdoctoral project:

The medieval church of Roslin has long intrigued visitors, and its place within the popular imagination of medieval Scotland has only increased in recent years due to appearances in fiction and film. However, despite its fame and the wealth of material it comprises, this important 15th century building has not been the subject of a sustained work of scholarship. My postdoctoral project illuminates the rich and complex art and architecture of Roslin, setting it within the cultural context of late medieval Europe, and examining what bearing the church's material culture had on its functional life.

Funded by the AHRC and the British Archaeological Association, my doctoral thesis is titled 'The Medieval Art and Architecture of Scottish Collegiate Churches'. My PhD research investigated the forty-nine collegiate churches founded in Scotland, 1248-1560; considering their documentary evidence, architecture, furnishings, artworks, music, and liturgical performances as constituent parts of the pious functions of these institutions