The church was fortunate in being able to call on the architectural historians working at Culzean, and the colour scheme is now as close to the original as could be achieved.

This church was built as a replacement for an older church—built around 1220—the ruins of which are still visible in the village, in the middle of the old graveyard (55°19′48″N 4°46′40″W / 55.3300°N 4.7779°W / 55.3300; -4.7779 (Remains of Kirk Oswald)).

The graveyard has a number of interesting graves, mainly because of the strong links with Robert Burns, whose mother (Agnes Broun) came from this village.

The poet also spent around 9 months in the village in 1776, when he was 17, and most of the characters in his poem "Tam o' Shanter" are based on local people whose graves are in the old kirkyard and are suitably marked.

One noteworthy grave not linked to Burns work is that of Scipio Kennedy, a black African slave who was brought to Scotland in 1702 and lived on the Culzean estate, and given his freedom in 1725.