The Church of the Holy Rude — "rude" is the old Scots word for cross — stands halfway up the spine of the old town, between the Tolbooth and the castle. It is the second-oldest building in Stirling after the castle itself, with the nave built in the 1410s and the choir added in the 1520s. The two halves were used as separate congregations for two and a half centuries until the church was reunified in 1936.
The interior is one of the few in Scotland to preserve a complete medieval oak roof. The choir has its original 1520s ceiling and the nave's painted hammerbeam roof was uncovered in the 20th century from beneath Reformation-era whitewash. A pre-Reformation font, several heraldic memorial slabs and a fine 19th-century organ by Rieger fill out the space. The graveyard outside contains the Star Pyramid, a 22-foot marble obelisk commemorating Protestant martyrs.
The church is open to visitors free of charge from May to September, usually 11am to 4pm. Services continue on Sundays. It sits next to Cowane's Hospital and is a natural stop on the walk up to the castle.