A FAMOUS Church of Scotland kirk has been saved after villagers raised £500,000 to restore it.

After five years of loving restoration and fundraising by the local community, in which a further £245,000 was contributed by Historic Scotland, the church is about to be re-entered by its congregation.

Dunlop Parish Church, with its striking 60ft tower, sits at the entrance of the East Ayrshire village, standing on a sacred site stretching back nearly 400 years. It is one of the Church of Scotland's most famous village kirks.

When dry rot was discovered in 2007, threatening its structure, the congregation was forced to move out and faced the prospect of the church falling into disrepair due to restoration costs.

Historically, the Dunlop parish is one of the most prestigious in Scotland, having once boasted John Major, one of Europe's leading theologians and historians, as its last Roman Catholic vicar in the pre-Reformation period. The kirk came to be revered for its architectural prominence in the village.

Fresh attention came in the 1970s and 1980s through the Rev James Currie, Dunlop's high-profile minister, who spoke at Burns Suppers and was also said to be "the unofficial chaplain to Glasgow Rangers".

The church has several prized stained-glass windows and, because of its historic and aesthetic value, Historic Scotland weighed in with a grant to help restore it. The Dunlop kirk is now to host its first act of worship in five years when the congregation re-enters the refurbished building on Sunday morning.

Andrew Pinkerton, a local architect who helped drive the restoration effort, said the project galvanised locals who were not even church-goers.

He said: "There has been a tremendous feeling this church belongs to the community, that it is a part of the landscape here, and people just wanted to help us save it and restore it.

"Naturally, the congregation rallied round and raised funds, but I've also been struck by how many folk, whom you would not regard as church people, also wanted to help. People with no church connections at all made a contribution. They see this church as a part of the village. They didn't want to see it go to decay."

Although one of the most photographed village kirks in Scotland due to its idyllic setting, its elevated position meant the church faced decades of buffeting from rain, sleet and westerly gales.

Over a three-year period, the church has been refurbished after being stripped back to its bare shell of stone walls, while preserving as much of its historic character as possible, said Mr Pinkerton.

However, the old pulpit, the stage for many a sermon from the Rev Currie and others, looks set to be retired.

"It is beautiful in a way," said Mr Pinkerton, eyeing up the dislodged pulpit last week, "though in modern churches many feel a pulpit is no longer needed."

David Clement, a local man who is writing a history of the Dunlop parish, said both the location of the church and its period pieces were what made people all over the world want to visit it.

He said: "It has these beautiful stained-glass windows, which some might feel is unusual for a Reformation church. The church also lacks in traces of Victoriana, which some might have seen as a negative.

"Historically, I believe the church was built in a very carefully chosen spot. It sits right between two burns and two hills at the foot of the village.

"People used to come from all over to get married in the Dunlop church, and it's no wonder, really."