The view from Aberlady Kirk across the Local Nature Reserve to the rising sand dunes beyond is one of the finest coastal scenes in Scotland.  The sand hills continue to grow and encroach along the sand bar from east and west, reducing the extent of the salt-marsh annually so that the Bay is now so much smaller and shallower than in the days of the port.

The impressive architectural form of the Kirk is itself a consequence of various stages of centuries old design and building.  The earliest parts are the tower and an isolated fragment of wall on the south-east corner, which date from at least the 15th century.

Aberlady Kirk

The image above shows the Kirk’s north face and, to its east, the Ballencrieff aisle commissioned in the early 16th century.  Adjacent is the 17th century Gosford aisle.  The remainder of the Kirk is a reconstruction in 1886 of the earlier main building of 1773, which replaced an earlier edifice described in 1745 as a “disgrace to the Parish”. 

The Kirk tower

Standing 60 feet tall, the walls of the tower are four feet thick.  It has a number of floors, one formerly used as a doocot.  Access by vermin was prevented by the overhanging string course.  The tower structure would have doubled as a watchtower more than once in its lifetime. 

A calvary grave slab was discovered within the tower in 2008.  The shears icon to the left of the floral cross head suggests that the grave was that of a senior churchman of the 14th century.  The grave which the slab covered would have been laid in the floor of an earlier Kirk structure.  On rebuilding , the slab found its present use as a step within the tower. 

Calvary grave slab

The water colour shown below is from a now lost antiquarian collection by J J Lamb, for many years Parish Registrar.  It shows the 1773 Kirk structure. 

Water colour by J J Lamb