We can be fairly sure that the stone above the doorway of the present church which proclaims King Malcolm Canmore, the slayer of Macbeth, as its founder in 1057 is the work of a much later hand.  It does remain an interesting relic nonetheless and it is at least as old as the present church!*

More than a century before Wallace led his army to the fateful encounter with the ‘Hammer of the Scots’ close to the town, the parish had been "gifted" with most of its meagre revenues to the Abbey of Holyrood in Edinburgh ... One relic from the period which remains is a stone cross which now stands near the east door.  At one time it may have marked the point near the church within which sanctuary could be claimed by anyone in flight from the powerful, whether lawful or otherwise.*  It is thought that there would have been four such crosses marking the parish boundary.


A grave slab which links the church with the most romantic and tempestuous period in the history of Scotland.  It bears an incomplete Latin inscription which suggests that it commemorates Alexander the Fifth Lord Livinstone, guardian to the young Mary Queen of Scots.  Mary made many visits to Callendar House in her childhood and may well have visited and worshipped in the church in its pre-Reformation days.*



These figures probably represent James, first Lord Livinstone who was "magnus camerarius" or Great Chamberlain of Scotland in the 1460’s and possibly the man who brought about the re-building of the church, with his wife Lady Marian is at his side.*

*extracts from ‘Falkirk Old Parish Church 1811 - 1986’ by Ian Scott
printed by kind permission of the author

The bell tower was erected in 1738 and now contains the thirteen bells given by the Falkirk born philanthropist Robert Dollar of San Rafael, California in 1926.  Pictured at the time of the presentation

 The picture on the left shows one of the bells in its wooden frame ready to be hoisted to the top of the tower.

They are played using a set of paddles which are connected to the bells by metal rods (left and centre).  The inscription on the largest bell reads:  Presented to the Auld Kirk, Falkirk, by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dollar, San Francisco, 1926.

Memorials of two former Ministers, Rev John Brown Paterson (died 1835) on the left and Rev William Begg (died 1887).

Both are the work of John Mossman of Glasgow.  The first was his earliest major commission as a young craftsman and the second his last work before retirement.