The Church of Holyrood (Holy cross) in sterling – the oldest building of the city after Stirling castle. It was built in 1129 during the reign of Scottish king David I. King Robert II built an altar in honor of the Holy cross, and the Church became known as the "parish Church of the Holy cross in the city of Stirling". Big fire in March 1405, which destroyed a large part of Sterling, has not spared the Church. The oldest surviving parts of the building date back to the year 1414 – nave, South aisle with round columns in the Scottish style, Gothic arches, the roof with oak beams and main tower. The Eastern part of the Church was built in 1507-1546 g.g. In this construction involved personally by king James IV. In 1547 was crowned here the son of Mary Queen of Scots James VI, the future king of a United England and Scotland, James I. The ceremony was led by the famous pastor of the reformation John Knox. Thus, the Church of Holyrood is the only functioning Church of Scotland, which took under its roof crowned.

The Church has always enjoyed the support and patronage of the Royal family of the Stuarts. Maybe that's why she managed to survive during the time of the Scottish reformation. The Church lost jewelry, but it not suffered a sad fate of most Scottish churches and monasteries were razed to the ground. On the tower are still visible marks of bullets – the traces of the siege of the castle by the troops of Oliver Cromwell. During the reformation the Church was divided by a wall into two halves, services were held independently of each other. The septum was removed only in 1936 during the restoration of the Church. Also, major restoration work was carried out in the Church in the 60-ies and 90-ies of XX century.