The Development of a Village Church
Around 1130 the Castlehill became the home of the High Stewards of Scotland when Walter FitzAlan, freshly appointed to that post by David I, selected Dundonald Hill as the site for a Motte and Bailey Castle. Walter was by descent a Norman and a Christian so he would almost certainly have incorporated a church within his castle on the hill. The role of High Steward became hereditary and the Stewards continued to live in Dundonald for the next 250 years.
David I, on becoming king, was determined to reorganise Scottish society along feudal lines, a system with which he had become familiar while living in England in his youth. This feudal system was very hierarchical, with the king at its apex followed by his principal nobles, knights, lords of the manor, villains and serfs. The High Steward was one of the powerful members of this society and as such would build up a considerable entourage of servants and supporters and it was probably during this time that Dundonald Village began to develop and there was a need to provide a place of worship for the members of this society.
It appears that the King was petitioned to allow a church in Dundonald as far back as 1203 and certainly by 1220 there was a Church in the village set up by the Gilbertines at the invitation of the High Steward. Once this church was up and running the Gilbertines returned to their base in England and the Church came under the jurisdiction of Paisley Abbey. This Church was almost certainly the first on the site which our church occupies today and it served Dundonald for more than 250 years. It was replaced by a new building around 1500, and it, in its turn, was replaced in 1803.