The Glencairn Aisle or Glencairn Vault at Kilmaurs, East Ayrshire is a Category B Listed vaulted sepulchral chapel. Built as a place for private contemplation and prayer, it also contains a large memorial monument, as well as the burial crypt of the Cunningham Earls of Glencairn and their family members. An 'aisle' is defined as a structure normally attached to a church, which may have burial crypt below, a family pew above, and sometimes a retiring room, as at the Glencairn Aisle. It houses an exceptional ornately carved stone mural monument dated 1600 that commemorates James Cunningham, the 7th Earl of Glencairn, his countess, Margaret Campbell and eight of their children. It is the oldest such 'Glorious Tomb' monument built in the 17th century in Ayrshire and one of the oldest post-reformation monument in Scotland. The other Ayrshire examples are the Kennedy or Bargany Aisle at Ballantrae of circa 1601, the Skelmorlie Aisle at Largs of 1639, the Crauford Monument at Kilbirnie and the Hamilton Aisle at Dunlop of 1641. The aisle is associated with St Maurs-Glencairn parish church that was dedicated to either the Virgin Mary or St Mora or Maura of Little Cumbrae, and was gifted to Kelso Abbey in 1170 by Robertus filli Wernebaldi, an ancestor of the Cunninghams. In 1413, it was endowed as a college of secular canons with a provost and several prebendaries. In 1600, James, seventh Earl of Glencairn, is said to have added the Glencairn Aisle or Vault to the then existing east-west oriented church building. In the aisle there is the aforementioned early 17th century mural monument (1600) commissioned by James, Seventh Earl of Glencairn for himself, his countess, Margaret, his children and close relatives. Memorial plaques to members of the cadet branches of Caprington, Corsehill and Robertland are also present on the walls.
The Cunninghams, Earls of Glencairn
Kilmaurs has had strong links with the Cunningham family who were also associated with the tenement or lands of Lamburgton (sic) for a significant period during their rise to power, granted to the family by royal charter in 1319 following the Cunningham support at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. The Cunningham chiefs had a weaker connection with the Barony of Kilmaurs after 1484 when Finlaystone became the family seat; Sir William Cunningham of Kilmaurs had married Margaret Denniston, co-heir to Sir Robert Denniston in 1405, and the dowry included the baronies of Denniston and Finlaystone in Renfrewshire, the lands of Kilmaronock in Dunbartonshire, Redhall and Colintoun in Mid-Lothian and the Barony of Glencairn in Dumfriesshire. In 1786 James, the fourteenth Earl of Glencairn, broke the centuries-old connection of the Cunningham family with the area by selling the barony and estate of Kilmaurs, including Kilmaurs Place, to the Marchioness of Titchfield.
The Collegiate Church Kilmaurs church was endowed in 1413 by Sir William Cunninghame as a secular, not being subject to or bound by religious rule, collegiate church with associated buildings to accommodate at least nine prebends, two clerks, choristers and servants. Maybole was the only other collegiate church in Ayrshire. These institutions were private chapels on an elaborate scale and their purpose was to make more lavish provision than could be made at an altar or chapel within a church for masses said for the soul of the founder, his family, their ancestors and descendants.
Each prebend or secular canon was endowed through a grant of the founder's land and they were appointed by the founder or his descendants. The college rules were stipulated in a founding charter for the conduct of the services with the style of the masses tailor made to meet the spiritual needs of the founder and their descendants. The charter also determined the personal and professional lives of the clergy, such as permanent personal residence at the college. In the mid-16th century Presbyterian reformers disavowed the existence of purgatory and therefore the practice for continual prayers for souls trapped there ceased to be permitted as did prayers for the success and immortality of their family lines. The Cunningham family were required to cease to use their buildings for these 'Popish' and idolatrous practices, the 5th earl taking secular control of the college and lands. Kilmaurs Collegiate Church remained as the parish church, but the associated buildings were put to other uses, such as the Grade A Listed building that became a doocot which carries a carved head and may have once been the girnal or grain store of the college. A painting from the 1920s shows the 'Tour' in apparently fairly good condition. Demolished in the 1960s, it was square or slightly rectangular, a sandstone construction with a paler sandstone cornice. The west facing wall of this possibly three storey building had no apparent windows; however, the south facing wall had at least two openings, one of which may have been the entry door. It has some resemblance to the Abbot's Tower at Mauchline and may have been the administrative centre for the monks of Kelso Abbey. It may have provided accommodation and other facilities. Much of the stone was used to build a garden wall. The earls used the patronage of the collegiate church to benefit various of their dependents. In addition, they were the tacksmen of the teinds of several parishes. A tacksman was a person who leased land and collected the tithes or teinds. Hugh Cunningham, third son of William, 4th Earl, obtained the lands of Carlung near West Kilbride that had been held by Kilmaurs Collegiate Church. An ancient chapel once stood near Overton on the Carlung lands. The name Kirkfauld is a recent term and the previous names were 'The Tour Gardens Farm' and the 'Girnal Croft'. Circa 1855 the orchard area was still in use as an orchard.
The Glencairn Aisle
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