Crathie Parish Church, Aboyne, Upper Deeside and Donside, Aberdeenshire

Entry Name: Crathie Parish Church

Listing Name: Crathie Parish Church (Church of Scotland), Including Boundary Walls

Listing Date: 24 November 1972

Category: B

Source: Historic Scotland

Source ID: 333982

Historic Scotland Designation Reference: LB3007

Building Class: Cultural

ID on this website: 200333982

Location: Crathie and Braemar

County: Aberdeenshire

Electoral Ward: Aboyne, Upper Deeside and Donside

Parish: Crathie And Braemar

Traditional County: Aberdeenshire

Tagged with: Church building Gothic Revival

Description

A Marshall Mackenzie, 1893-5. Fine, Cruciform plan Scots Gothic Church with distinctive steeply pitched gabled nave and square, corbelled, parapetted crossing tower with splay footed spire. Coursed grey rock faced granite. Situated on raised site, close to main road, with principal entrance to W. Base course, cill course, hoodmoulds to most windows. Separate Royal entrance with decorative timber gabled entrance porch to S with 2 leaf timber door with good ironmongery.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: large rose window to W gable with 2-leaf timber door below set within round-arch opening. Timber lean-to verandah with gabled entrance.

Some geometric tracery windows to N and S. Lancet windows at crossing and apse. Plain clay roof tiles with decorative ridge tiles.

INTERIOR: artistically fine interior with many references to the Royal Family. Round piers at crossing and timber elders- seating around apse. The South transept is set apart for the Royal Family and the North for the local lairds. Iona marble Communion Table. Unique granite hexagonal pulpit, designed by A Marshall Mackenzie. Fine Victorian stained glass

BOUNDARY WALL: low, granite to S and N. Square granite gate piers.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. Crathie church is a well designed compact church which is distinguished by having had connections with the Royal Family since its conception. The finely decorated interior is unusual compared to other Church of Scotland churches and shows similarities to more decorative Anglican Churches. This is likely to have been as a result of the Royal connections with this church. The use of plain clay tiles is very unusual in an area where grey slate is much more common. The foundation stone was laid in 1893 by Queen Victoria. A previous church on this site, said to be in a very plain style, was worshipped in by the Royal Family when they stayed at nearby Balmoral. This previous church was taken down and replaced by the current one. Funds for the present building were raised by subscription and gifts and included a gift of £2000 from two of Queen Victoria's daughters, raised from a bazaar they held in the grounds of Balmoral Castle. Crathie Kirk has retained its Royal links to the present day. Much of the interior furniture has been given by the Royal family over the years.

A Marshall MacKenzie was a Scottish architect of national repute. Born in Elgin, he was part of an architect dynasty. Although closely associated with building in the North-East Scotland, he was given Royal patronage when asked to build the new Crathie Church, and this continued with the building of Mar Lodge in 1895 for the Duke and Duchess of Fife. Other work includes Marischal College in Aberdeen (1906).

External Links

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