Castle Semple Church facts for kids
Castle Semple Collegiate Church is an old church in Renfrewshire, Scotland. You can find it near the eastern end of Castle Semple Loch, inside Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park. It's about 2 miles west of Howwood. This church is a special historic building, protected by Historic Environment Scotland as a Scheduled monument.
What is the History of Castle Semple Church?
This church was built around 1504 by a man named John Sempill, 1st Lord Sempill. It was a 'collegiate church,' which means it had a group of priests and other people who lived and worked there together. They had a leader called a provost, along with six chaplains, two boys, and a sacristan (who looked after the church).
James IV of Scotland even visited the church and John Sempill's home in 1505. He gave a gift of 14 shillings to the "New College," as it was sometimes called. You can still see some old carvings on the church walls, like the letters R. L. S. and the family symbols (called 'arms') of the Sempill and Montgomerie families.
The church is quite big: about 71.5 feet long, 24.25 feet wide, and 15.5 feet tall. Its walls are covered with ivy. The roof was taken off in the 1800s, and the ivy has grown inside. Long ago, there might have been a village here, with a small chapel dedicated to St. Bride.
What Does Castle Semple Church Look Like?
The church building is a simple rectangle. At the east end, it has a three-sided shape called an apse. A square tower sticks out from the middle of the west wall. The double windows show a very old style of Gothic architecture. Other windows on the sides have been changed over time.
Above the door to the chancel (the part of the church where the altar usually is), you can see two family symbols. They have the letters R. L. S. and A. M. S. One symbol belongs to the Sempill family, and the other to the Montgomerie family.
The square tower at the west end is very plain. The tower and most of the side walls were built around the time the church was first started. The east apse was added in the 1500s. It was built to hold the monument of John, Lord Sempill, who died in a battle called Battle of Flodden in 1513. You can still see a few parts of the original square-shaped windows on the side walls.
Inside, the church was divided by two strong walls into three separate areas. These areas were used as private burial places. In the eastern part, there is a large monument for Lord Sempill. In the middle part, there is a stone slab for Gabriel Sempel, who passed away in 1587.
