HISTORY
In early times the church was linked to Dunoon Castle,a stronghold and occasional Royal residence,which stood on the adjoining hilltop. The church met the religious needs of the castle occupants and administered to the needs of the inhabitants of the cottages which were scattered around it. It was a church of considerable importance and records of its links with the Cathedral of Glasgow and Paisley Abbey are to be found in old documents bearing the signatures of Rectors of the church. In these documents it is referred to as the Parish Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In a Charter dated 1453, King James11 granted to the Bishop of Argyll and his sucessors, the Parish Church of Dunoon with its tithes and church lands. The Recformation,established in 1560, brought Presbyterian ministers to Dunoon Parish Church and in the seventeenth century, Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church, notably Bishop Andrew Boyd,were resident, possibly in the Bishop's palace, thought to be sited where the near-by Primary School now stands.
Towards the end of the 18th century the church building, being badly dilapidated, was demolished and the stones used to erect Gillespie Graham's Late Decorated Gothic Revival Church on the same site. The church, built to seat 500 and opened in 1817, constitutes only part of the present building because, even as early as 1839, it was necessary to enlarge it. In 1840 the tower was heightened by ten feet and a bell was installed. The church was lengthened and widened by Andrew Balfour in 1909.