The Church of the Holy Rude stands to the south of Stirling Castle, at the top of St John Street. It was built in two different phases, with the older West Church being built in the early to mid 15th century, and the East Church in the 16th century. The West Church contains the nave with a tower at its west end, where the original entrance from the west once stood. Robert Arnot was known to be the Master of the Kirk work in 1523. A John Kowth or Coutts was said to be the name of one of the masons who worked on the church in 1529. Only one of the original side chapels now survives, St Andrew's Chapel, which stands on the NE side of the north aisle of the nave. An archway, now containing a window, once led to the interior of St Mary's Chapel, which stood on the NW side of the north aisle of the nave. Only parts of the lower walls of this chapel are now visible on the exterior of the church against its north wall.The East Church contains the Choir and the Apse. In the mid 17th century a wall was built between the two churches due to a 'falling out'. In 1816 massive repairs and 'improvement' saw the demolition of St Mary's Aisle and the insertion of a mock Gothic ceiling in the West Church. In the 20th century this was removed, as was the dividing wall and the original medieval wooden ceiling is again visible. A Project survey was undertaken in late 2015-early 2016 where 2070 marks were recorded, from which 92 different masons could be identified. Two of the marks, formed by circular dots, No's 0003(2) and 0018, belong to masons undertaking repairs in the mid 20th century. | | |