Here Lies John Craig.

Mrs TD was in the village of Temple learning the art of tapestry weaving, so I went early to collect her in order that I could spend some time at the Old Temple Kirk. It may date back to the 12th century although it is more likely to have been built by the Knights of St John soon after they succeeded the Templars in 1312, a theory which is supported by the inscription on the gable end of the church that is taken to mean, "The Sacred Council of Vienna, to the Knights of St John of Jerusalem and Malta".

Many hundreds of the Knights Templar were rounded up in a dawn raid on Friday, 13 October 1307; under the orders of Philip IV of France;  in November of that year, under duress from Philip, the pope issued a bull to all the European Christian monarchs to arrest all Templars who were subsequently tortured and many of them were burnt at the stake having admitted to acts of heresy under torture;  the bull also ordered the disbanding of the organisation. It has been alleged that the initial dawn raid gave rise to the superstitions about "Black Friday" and "Friday the thirteenth." While one could argue that the Templars were badly treated, it is also true that, since their “raison d’etre” was to fight the crusades, they were guilty of somewhat extreme religious intolerance.
The thought struck me many years ago that every religion has a word for its non-believers: Christians have the word "heathen", Jews use "gentile" while several  religions use "infidel."

In the churchyard is this  interesting headstone, a memorial to the farmer of  Outerston, John Craig, who died in 1742. He is shown wearing his Sunday best and is accompanied by his children who are also buried here. For the stone to have remained in such good condition for over 260 years is remarkable. While I was there, I was accosted by an Irishman who wanted to find a Templar headstone, he would not believe that such an artefact would be unrecognisable after seven hundred years.