Church of the Holy Rude

Stirling's Church of the Holy Rude occupies a magnificent location on the shoulder of the city's highest hill. It would be better known and more often admired from both near and far were it not for its grander and even more magnificently sited neighbour, Stirling Castle.
The name Church of the Holy Rude was first given to a church that stood on this site in the 1130s. "Holy Rude" means Holy Cross, giving it the same origin as Holyrood in Edinburgh.
Its close proximity to Stirling Castle led the church to its almost unique place in history. On 29 July 1567 the infant James VI was crowned King of Scotland in Holy Rude following the forced abdication of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots (see our Historical Timeline).
The hastily arranged Protestant coronation ceremony included a sermon by John Knox to guests who emphatically didn't include James' mother, still imprisoned at the time in Lochleven Castle.

Visited at night as part of the ghost walk by the Happy Hangman, and through the day, when the ghosts disappeared

The old graves all around alone make you feel sensual.