St Fillan’s Church, Aberdour
Walking the grounds of Aberdour’s 12th-century St Fillan’s Church feels like stepping into another time. One of the oldest surviving churches in Scotland, its Romanesque arches, plain stone walls and indefinable musty, mossy scent make St Fillan’s a hallowed, peaceful place; a small, quiet tribute to medieval Scottish spirituality. 

Mansfield Traquair, Edinburgh 
This 19th-century Catholic apostolic church would be unremarkable were it not for its astonishing murals painted by Phoebe Anna Traquair between 1893 and 1901. They cover almost every wall, blending biblical stories with Darwinian depictions of evolution, and giving the church its extravagant moniker of ‘Edinburgh’s Sistine Chapel.’ Deconsecrated now, it is used as a secular venue, but a spiritual feeling endures. 

St Peter’s Seminary, Cardross 
The brutalist sprawl of St Peter’s Seminary rises up in startling contrast to the Cardross woodlands that surround it. Built in the 1960s as a training college for Catholic priests, it has been abandoned since 1987, being gradually reclaimed by nature and graffiti. Its architectural significance is world famous, and the grounds have, in recent years, taken on a new lease of life as a sacred space for art and intellectual debate.