[5] The church was remodelled in 1838–39 by R & R Dickson[6] to a T-plan form with a pinnacled western tower and has remained virtually unchanged since that date.

[9][10] It was erected in 1609 to house the remains of Christian Boswell, the wife of the courtier, diplomat and memoirist Sir James Melville of Halhill.

[citation needed] The Collessie mausoleum gradually fell prey to neglect and became a ruin: the carved heraldic shields that once filled niches on the walls are gone, as has the date '1609', recorded as late as 1895.

[12] These are inscribed on the outer wall, which forms part of the churchyard boundary, and overlooks what was formerly the principal highway to St Andrews.

The Collessie poem makes no mention of Christian Boswell or her husband, but constitutes a short sermon about sin, redemption, death, burial and resurrection.

[13] Both these articles discuss The Blame of Kirk-Buriall, Tending to Perswade Cemeteriall Civilitie, by Mr William Birnie, Minister of Lanark (Edinburgh, 1606), edited W.B.D.D.

The poem, which uses 'rhyme royal' (known in Scotland as 'Troilus verse'), has been attributed to Christian Boswell's poet-daughter Elizabeth Melville on biographical and stylistic grounds.

from an inscription on the wall of Aberdour Kirk[15] on the Fife coast, close to Balmuto Castle and to another Melville family seat, Rossend Castle in Burntisland (home of Elizabeth Melville's uncle Sir Robert of Murdocairnie, and then his son, Sir Robert of Burntisland): Which laid out as pentameter verse (with a hypermetric last line) would read: It has been suggested that 'pilgrim' alludes to the mediaeval pilgrimages to a well-known, now vanished healing well located near the church.

[citation needed] The word 'pilgrim' for all human beings on their earthly journey was a standard metaphor much used by Protestants, as the Collessie mausoleum inscription indicates.

[18] Alternatively, Sir James Melville himself may have told his daughter about the Aberdour inscription (he is likely have had considerable input into the content of the poem on his wife's mausoleum).