Description

Inveravon Parish Church is a simple rectangular planned parish church dating to 1806 incorporating some medieval fabric in south wall and with later remodelled by A Marshall Mackenzie, Aberdeen in 1876. The earliest mention of a church is from 1108 when it was dedicated to St Peter, although the Pictish sculpture here shows it has older origins. The church sits within a burial ground situated on a secluded bluff, above the south-eastern bank of the River Spey.

Church – A simple rectangular building with a corniced birdcage bellcote on the west gable with a ball finial. It is harled with tooled granite margins and dressings and later dressings from the 1876 remodelling are of tooled ashlar sandstone. The roofs are slated. There are four symmetrical round-headed windows in south elevation with Y-shaped timber tracery inserted in 1876. This wall incorporates masonry from north wall of the earlier medieval church.

The north elevation has three pointed-headed hoodmoulded windows and a gabled entrance porch in a gothic-style, again added in 1876, together with a single storey, 2-bay Minister's room at the west gable, with shouldered lintel to doorway and simple bipartite with lattice-pane glazing. The east gable has a round-headed with lattice-pane glazed fanlight with sexfoil window above, all from the 1876 remodelling.

Interior: The interior originally had a pulpit mid-way along the south wall and a gallery at either end. The remodelling in 1876 saw the removal of the western gallery which allowed the interior to be realigned, with the liturgical furniture moved to the current location at the west end. The coomb ceiling with scissor-braced roof and pendant finials dates to the remodelling.

The interior is plain with pine plank dado and pews, with a gallery at the east end (1806). There is a carved backboard behind communion table (1876), organ (1876, case around 1911) and pulpit (around 1901, moved from Wishart Memorial Church, Dundee).

Within the porch, which no longer provides access to the main body of the church, is a collection of Pictish symbol stones dating to around the 6th-8th centuries AD. Three were found during the construction of the present church in 1806, and the fourth was discovered in the burial ground in 1964. The symbol stones were previously attached to the north wall of the church before being moved to the porch in 2011 to be displayed. The centremost stone is a large blue slate slab, bearing three symbols, an eagle, a mirror case, and a mirror and comb. To its left is slab of unmetamorphosed sandstone bearing the crescent and V-rod and a 'Pictish Beast.' Above is fragment of a Pictish Symbol Stone which has been later cut down and dressed to form a wall stone. It is made of hard blue gneiss and the only remaining incised decoration is the head of the 'Pictish Beast' symbol, facing right. To the right is a slab of hard gneiss bearing the crescent and V-rod, triple ring, and comb and mirror symbols.

Burial ground – The burial ground is defined by a coped rubble wall with a pair of simple square granite gatepiers with shaped caps, with cast-iron gates. Within the burial ground are 18th, 19th and 20th century tombstones, many of the earlier memorials of finely inscribed local slate. Also within the burial ground, and to the east of the church, is the Macpherson-Grant mausoleum (separately listed as Inveravon Parish Church, Macpherson-Grant mausoleum LB8472).

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17826850

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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