[3] In June 1298 Edward Longshanks made camp at the town on his way to fight Sir William Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk.

The barony of Kirkliston, including the village, church, mill, glebe, and demesne, was acquired by the Archbishop of St Andrews in the 15th century.

Kirkliston became the site of the court from which the archbishop's lands south of the Forth were administrated, a fact commemorated by the mitre and crozier in the council arms.

Robert Burns stayed there in the summer of 1787 and inscribed this verse on a window pane, now in a Vancouver museum: The ants about their clod employ their care, And think the business of the world is theirs; Lo: Waxen combs seem palaces to bees.

The results shed light the cramped and unsanitary conditions that large families lived in at that time and that the houses were cheaply built, poorly maintained and overcrowded throughout much of their existence.

[11] The south doorway is the most significant part of the building, being an excellent example of a Romanesque style arched entrance, typical of the late 12th century, with multiple concentric geometric and sculpted forms in each curve.

It was bricked up in the 1822 remodelling carried out by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, and the old north doorway, more restrained in design, was moved to the eastern wall to become the main entrance.

The projecting wing on the church's southeast, the Stair Aisle, in which the lairds of Newliston and their families are interred, was added in the early 17th century.

A lintel above its door bears the Latin for "it is proper to trust in virtue, not in lineage" with the date 1629 and the initials of John Dundas of Newliston and his wife Margaret Crichton.

The church contains a copy of the 1643 Solemn League and Covenant, signed by the minister, the session clerk (John Brooke), and 310 parishioners.

[12] A curious gravestone features two carved heads wearing spectacles; its date of 1727 possible makes it the world's oldest depiction of glasses with sides.

[13] The original graveyard lies largely to the south of the church, but was extended as a more formal cemetery on sloping ground to the west.

Two of the graves are of the Earl of Stair and his grandmother, Dame Margaret on whom Lady Ashton was based in one of Sir Walter Scott's Waverly Novels "The Bride of the Lammermuirs.

It focuses on the Parish Church, The Square and the High Street but also stretches south down to encompass the remote manse and the little group of buildings at Breastmill (1672).

A suggested origin is the Burns verse given above, but the most widely used explanation is that when the Forth Bridge was being built, the workers who lodged in Kirkliston often had cheese sandwiches for lunch.

Kirkliston is served by 6 bus services operated by Lothian Buses, Stagecoach East Scotland & McGill's Scotland East: In June 2014, Lothian Buses introduced the 63 bus which runs from Heriot Watt via the Gyle, Newbridge, Kirkliston, and onwards to Queensferry.

In October 2023 Lothian Country introduced Service 72 operating between Kirkliston and Livingston Centre Via Winchburgh, Broxburn, Uphall & St John's Hospital.