6 June 1897 | A Scottish woman, Jane Haining, was born in Dunscore. A Church of Scotland missionary in #Budapest. In #Auschwitz from 14 May 1944 No. 79467 She perished in the camp on 17 July 1944. Haining was recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.

Bowling Harbour, at the western end of the Forth and Clyde Canal where it meets the River Clyde near Dumbarton. Its story began with the opening of the canal in 1790 and it has seen a real renaissance in recent times. More pics and info: www.undiscoveredscot... #Scotland #BowlingHarbour #Dumbarton

“The Sodgers”, by Alexander Scott (1920–1989) Alexander Scott landed in Normandy in 1944 & saw action in the Ardennes & crossing the Rhine. He became Head of Scottish Literature at @glasgow.ac.uk, president of ASL from 1976–79, & was a founding editor of NEW WRITING SCOTLAND #DDay #poem #poetry

Excellent evening at Scottish Opera’s first rate production of The Marriage of Figaro. Music so familiar. #Opera

It's #AdoorableThursday, so here is the beautiful doorway in our #ScottishChurchOfTheWeek, the A-listed St Michael's Parish Church in Edinburgh. Installed in memory of local parishioner Connie Duncan in 2001, who had left money in her will to the "five churches in which she had been happy" (1/2)

Today is Founder’s Day, at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. We were privileged to attend in 1999, when the future King Charles III took the salute. Also there was former PM Margaret Thatcher. At the time we lived at another Royal Hospital - Haslar.

Tomorrow 7pm at Strathearn Arts in Crieff: I'll be talking about getting your book published. Details on the website. All welcome! www.strathearnarts.org

It's #WindowsOnWednesday time, so let's head back to our #ScottishChurchOfTheWeek, St Michael's Parish Church in Slateford in Edinburgh to have a look at some of its wonderful stained glass windows. These are by Alexander Strachan, Alexander Ballantine and Ballantine & Son. (Images: Church's own)

Won’t need to water the hanging baskets etc. today. Just had thunder, hail and a downpour.

After over 200 years in their building, Lerwick Congregational Church held its final service on Sunday. Its vastly depleted congregation, often with as few as four people attending services, has been unable to call a new minister since 2010. Full story here👇 www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/news/sadness...

#OTD in 1953 - Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (although there was never a QE I in Scotland). Some memorabilia, including a photo of an ancient relic, taken in Mesnes park, Wigan.

If you're near Crieff: this Thursday I'll be talking about getting your book published, 7pm at Strathearn Arts! Gets some tips, and truth from the book submission trenches. Details on their website www.strathearnarts.org

Completed in 1883, the A-listed St Michael’s Parish Church, Edinburgh, is our #ScottisChurchOfTheWeek. One of celebrated Scottish Victorian and Edwardian architect John Honeyman’s most notable buildings, the tower rises 130ft over Slateford and the church has the longest aisle in the city. 🧵1/2

#ceilingsonsunday in St Mary's Church in Haddington where we attended a lovely concert by the Kammer Philharmonie Freiburg yesterday evening

St Mary's Catholic church, Inverness, home of the Tomasz Tuszko glass and much else besides. Open every day and a must-see if you are in Inverness, just across the River Ness from the city centre.

In some very welcome Scottish church news, Kenmore & District Community Council have announced they've concluded the purchase of the Kirk of Kenmore. Fundraising for and organising such a transfer is no easy task, so a huge congratulations to everyone involved! 🎉 📢 www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=...

Feast Day of St Joan of Arc. #StainedGlass Joan of Arc, in Église St Ronan, Locronan, Brittany. Photo from 2018.

There will be a council planning meeting on the 16th June 2026 to decide whether Thomas Lennox Watson's 1883 Greek Revival Hillhead Baptist Church in the West End of Glasgow can be demolished to make way for flats. Cont./ #glasgow #hillhead #architecture #glasgowarchitecture #church

Irvine Old, our #ScottishChurchOfTheWeek, possesses a wonderful collection of stained glass for #WindowsOnWednesday, including fine examples of the Kier brothers’ work and windows by Susan Bradbury and John Blyth. 🧵1/2

"‘Lost forever, all because of this new tax’: fears for UK church heritage as VAT relief ends" The Art Newspaper discusses some of the negative outcomes already being seen due to the UK Govt's decision to close of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. 👇 www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/05/26/l...

As it’s a beautiful bank holiday Monday, I’ve uploaded a longread I once wrote about a trip to Ailsa Craig onto substack. It is about memories, fleeting joys & the magic of an island so iconic & so unknowable, it can be anything you want it to be. Photo by John Devlin substack.com/home/post/p-...

I grew up looking out at Ailsa Craig. It was one of those things my granny said I'd miss when I moved inland, away from the sea. I laughed and yet coming down the A77 to see family, when it suddenly comes into view, it always strikes me she was right. Beautiful writing from Dani, as always:

Irvine Old is an exceptional A-listed church, designed by architect David Muir, and is our #ScottishChurchOfTheWeek. It opened for worship in 1774 and is the third to occupy this prominent site on the banks of the River Irvine. 🧵1/2

You can find out more about our national church recording project here 👇 www.scotlandschurchestrust.org.uk/church-recor...

“From time to time art publicists in London notice things are being achieved in Scotland… On one of these occasions an interviewer asked Agnes what made her write that story; she answered, ‘Spite’” —Alasdair Gray, “Honest Poverty”: Agnes Owens at 70 2/7 www.scottishreviewofbooks.org/2009/10/hone...

Agnes Owens: Out of the Margins Agnes Owens (1926–2014) was born 100 years ago #OTD, 24 May. This short film presents Owens as a writer shaped by working-class life, whose fiction exposed power, resisted sentimentality, & centred overlooked voices. A 🎂🧵 💙📚 1/7 www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkYR...

Well done to our daughter in law, who is in second place for distance in the MS May50k uk challenge.

Buchanan Church Heritage Trust trying to raise funds to purchase church in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park from the Church of Scotland.

#StainedGlassSunday #Pentecost symbols in Millennium window by John K Clark, in Dumbarton Parish Church.

#SteepleSaturday This building in #Crieff hasn’t been a church since 1997. It’s A listed and has significant #StainedGlass by #DouglasStrachan and #HerbertHendrie. It’s in an absolutely disgraceful condition. Someone must own it.

Let's return now to our #ScottishChurchOfTheWeek for #FontsOnFriday Killin & Ardeonaig Church has been home for generations to this seven sided medieval font that was dug up in the graveyard outside. Some historians have suggested it may've been a mortar. What do you think? (Image: Neil Gilbert)

"Glasgow's Ramshorn Graveyard tours becomes tourist hotspot" Amazing work by more incredible local volunteers researching, maintaining and offering guided visits to another historic Scottish graveyard. Read more about their activities here 👇 www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/2612122...

The Friends of Burntisland Old Parish Church are holding an open day on Saturday from 10am-2pm. Despite it being one of the first kirks to be built in Scotland after the Reformation and where King James VI authorised the edition of the Bible that still bears his name today its future is uncertain.

The Friends of Wamphray Church have until July to raise £45,000 needed to purchase the historic kirk from the Church of Scotland, before their period of exclusivity ends. The 192 year old church, with an early medieval decorative stone above its door, closed in Dec 2025 dng24.co.uk/friends-prog...

The UK Govt has today opened a new source of funding available only to churches in England, replacing the old UK-wide Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. £23m per annum will be made available for 4 years. Devolved nations have to create their own schemes 👇 historicengland.org.uk/advice/grant...

Our #ScottishChurchOfTheWeek, Killin & Ardeonaig, has an interior that is no less interesting than its exterior. For #WindowsOnWednesDay there are fine examples and there is also much to admire for #Woodensday. 🧵1/2

I made a video about some fantastic stained glass I saw in England. (with narration) #stainedglass

Code breaker Jean Valentine Rooke, who died #OTD in 2019, operated the Bombe decryption device designed by Alan Turing at Bletchley Park in World War 2. Later decrypted Japanese weather reports. She helped reconstruct the Bombe for Bletchley Park Museum #PerthWomen en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Va...

Saline Kirk Development Group held a focus group today to hear views on the future of Saline Kirk & possibility of community buyout @scotchurchestrust.bsky.social 📌Join us for the next one! Saturday 13th June from 2pm at Saline Golf Club [email protected] for info #Fife #heritage

To Noroway, to Noroway, To Noroway o’er the faem; The king’s daughter o’ Noroway, ’Tis thou maun bring her hame… The ballad “Sir Patrick Spens” is probably based on the 1290 mission to Norway to fetch the 7-year-old princess Margaret, heir to the Scottish crown #Norway #Nasjonaldagen #poetry 🇳🇴🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I was really hoping the community group would be able to take possession of Arbuthnott Church, but their efforts have been unsuccessful. I wonder what will happen to this building now. A hotel? A pub? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"'Sunset Song church' sold after community bid fails" The historic Arbuthnott Church, that featured heavily in Lewis Grassic Gibbon's seminal work, has been sold to a private buyer after the community bid to purchase the kirk fell through. Read the full story here 👇 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The superb little chapel of St Fillan's at the head of Strathearn, where Dál Riata and Pictland meet. The post-medieval chapel and burial ground likely have much earlier predecessors, then as now in the shadow of the mighty Pictish hillfort of Dundurn www.trove.scot/place/24872?...

Surveyed Helmsdale residents were overwhelmingly in favour of purchasing their local church which is about to be marketed and was valued at £65,000. Read more about the Garbh Allt Community Initiative in the Northern Times (£) 👇 www.northern-times.co.uk/news/survey-...

Amazing stained glass in Christ Church College, my top painting in the Ashmolean (Paulo Uccello’s Hunt in the Forest) great afternoon at the Uffington Horse (terrible pic cos hail) enhanced by @peteralanross.bsky.social’s excellent book in portable paperback. Can we have a waterproof edition next?

Some more welcome church heritage news this week as the mid-19th century Romanesque church on Galashiels High Street (formerly Trinity Church of Scotland) reopens its doors in the care of its new owners, the local Free Church congregation. Story here 👇 www.bordertelegraph.com/news/2609769...

It's #TowerTuesday, so here are a few shots of the magnificent 150ft tall tower of Campbeltown Parish Church, our #ScottishChurchOfTheWeek A prominent landmark that can be seen all over town, local distiller John Ross contributed £1000 to ensure architect John Burnet's vision for it was realised.

Order of Service for Coronation Day in #Airdrie, 1937,which husband’s grandparents attended, plus souvenir spoon handle, provenance unknown. #OTD

At a recent meeting in Old Kilpatrick fears were raised about the graveyard surrounding the parish church when it is sold This will be unaffected. Since 1925, most (but not quite all) graveyards around Scottish churches are owned/maintained by local councils www.clydebankpost.co.uk/news/2606012...