St Andrew's Kirk Ports

NB Heritage is campaigning to conserve and enhance this 17th-century ‘picturesque ruin’ and make it available again for community use.

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Prospectus updated for NBH - Oct 2025.pdf

We are raising funds to conserve Kirk Ports

St Andrew’s Kirk Ports is a picturesque 17th-century ruin at the heart of North Berwick and sits in an attractive graveyard. We have a vision and exciting plans for its future – check out the Prospectus for the project here. If you would like to help us with any aspect of the project, we’d love to hear from you!

Our kirk is historically significant

This is the second of North Berwick’s three St Andrew’s parish kirks – echoing the town’s origins. North Berwick was where early Christian pilgrims would rest before taking a ferry across the Forth on their way to worship at the holy shrine in St Andrews, Fife. Our St Andrew’s Kirk dates from 1664 and replaced the first kirk by the harbour. It is a scheduled monument because it is one of the best-preserved early post-Reformation churches in Scotland.

We are creating a community landmark

This picturesque ruin is now looking a little forlorn and neglected, but we have a vision and exciting plans for its future. Our vision is for St Andrew’s Kirk Ports once again to be a hub for community activities, such as open-air concerts, local history walks, wedding ceremonies, and much else besides, all in the heart of North Berwick, right by the Lodge Grounds.

We have big ambitions

NB Heritage is leading the campaign to consolidate the building, reinstate the iconic bell-shaped tower roof, and re-floor the nave – so that this important kirk and the historic graveyard are available once again for community use. The Kirk Ports project will be delivered in three key phases:

Conservation of the kirk - restoration of the building, including masonry repairs and reinstatement of the tower roof.

Heritage and community hub - developing the space for community use, including events, ceremonies and educational activities.
Graveyard - improving the paths for improved access, securing any unsafe gravestones and, funds permitting, creating a new route connecting the graveyard to the Lodge Grounds.

We have come a long way

We are proud of our success:

We have engaged with the community to seek views on the future of the kirk and help us develop a vision and a Prospectus for the project.
In 2023 we were awarded a grant of £3,000 by the UKSPF Regeneration Development Fund for a high-level survey of the kirk. The good news is that the kirk’s condition is not as bad as we had feared.
We were recently awarded a grant of over £14,000 by North Berwick Trust to carry out further preparatory works, including a full condition survey and archaeological assessment. This is half the cost needed to get us to RIBA Stage 2 and will help us hone and cost our plans for the kirk more closely.
We are very grateful to North Berwick Trust which has promised to contribute a capital grant of £100,000 if we can raise another £600,000. The next step is a fundraising campaign, including approaching major funders such as the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic Environment Scotland.
We are delighted that the famous historian and author, William Dalrymple, is our patron.

We are getting ready for our next steps

We’re now preparing for RIBA Stage 2, including updated condition reports, tower roof designs, access plans, and ecological and archaeological surveys. This stage is being led by conservation architect Fraser Bell, with input from a structural engineer and chartered surveyor.

Thanks to a £14,172 grant from North Berwick Trust, we’re moving ahead – though we still need to raise matching funds.

We’re working closely with the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust and Heritage Trust Network for expert guidance on planning, business development, and long-term sustainability.

The journey is just beginning – and we’d love your help to bring Kirk Ports back to life.

The Story of Kirk Ports

St Andrew’s Kirk Ports was the second parish church of North Berwick. It was built to replace the medieval church by the harbour, which had been badly damaged by a storm in 1652. Sited at the back of the burgage plots on the south side of High Street, St Andrew’s Kirk Ports opened for worship on 5 June 1664.

St Andrew’s Kirk Ports is an important example of an early post-Reformation church. Originally it was a simple rectangular building, in keeping with the post-Reformation tradition. The pulpit stood centrally on the south wall. Gradually, prominent families made their mark. The Sutties of Balgone added an aisle on the south side in 1700 and Sir Hew Dalrymple of North Berwick built his aisle on the north side in 1718. The tower with its ogee roof was added in 1770 – which meant the bell transferred from the medieval kirk could at last ring out again.

St Andrew’s Kirk Ports served the parish for 220 years, but by the 1870s it was considered rather cramped and cold. The final service in the church took place on 3 June 1883 and, a week later, the present parish church opened – St Andrew Blackadder on the High Street. In August 1883 the heritors agreed to ‘allow the walls to stand in order to form a picturesque ruin’. They were ahead of their time: this is the preferred approach to the conservation of important monuments today. This photograph shows the kirk at its full extent in about 1870, shortly before it was abandoned.

Our Chair, Olwyn Owen, met with pupils from North Berwick High School’s Eco Group to discuss how they might help with the project, for example, by helping improve biodiversity in the graveyard. It was wonderful to engage with the young people and we have been invited to a follow-up visit at the school.

In Scottish Archaeology Month each September, we lead special tours around the kirk and graveyard – mostly in lovely sunshine! Two of the tours are led by Trust member and historian, Joy Dodd, and the third one by conservation architect, Fraser Bell, and archaeologist, Olwyn Owen. The tours have been very popular and enjoyable. It is wonderful to hear from Joy whose knowledge of the people and families buried in the graveyard is simply astonishing; and inspiring to hear from Fraser and Olwyn about our plans to save the kirk and deal with the conservation challenges ahead.

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