Carstairs Parish Church was built in 1794 during the ministry of the Rev James Finlayson, who is buried outside, and was described at the time as a “new and elegant church…finished in proper style.”

Significant refurbishments and alterations took place in 1816, when the spire was rebuilt by John Lindsay of Lanark; 1891, when the pulpit was relocated and the west gallery was put in; 1921, when the pipe organ was brought in; 1933 when electricity and toilets were installed; 1970, when the box pews were removed and organ was relocated; and in 2019, when its sanctuary was fully reconfigured to make the space more accessible and multi-functional and a new staircase added to the gallery.

There has been a documented Christian presence in Carstairs since at least 1170, when a church there and its surrounding benefices were granted to the Bishop of Glasgow. The current church may have been built over its medieval and early modern predecessors and it houses a small number of carved stones, dating from the 14th and 15th century, that have been located over the years in the surrounding graveyard. These include a corbel head, a depiction of the Crucifixion and a stone with swords carved upon it.

Other items relating to the church’s history are also on display, including historic collecting boxes and communion tokens and a medieval skillet. Six large new windows were installed in 1957 and the two-manual pipe organ, by the Glasgow firm of Messrs Hilsdon Ltd, was gifted in memory of politician and philanthropist Thomas Holt Hutchison by his family. The organ was restored in 1989 by Michael MacDonald.

The surrounding graveyard contains many interesting gravestones and a sundial, dated 1797, that was once probably attached to the church.