Description

Andrew Wilson, Banff, architect and builder, 1790; tower and spire, William Robertson, Elgin, 1828-9, completed Thomas Mackenzie, Elgin, 1849; apse and re-casting of interior, Jeffrey Waddell and Young, Glasgow, l927.

CHURCH: rectangular, harled with ashlar margins and dressings. 5-bay long south elevation with regular fenestration (largely re-modelled in 1927).Windows are round-arched, key-stoned and with blocked imposts. Paired small lights at ground floor and 3 large similarly shaped mullioned and transomed windows in centre of lst floor. Bowed ashlar apse at east gable, fronted in southeast re-entrant angle by single pitch entrance porch. Deep moulded wallhead cornice. Slate roofs.

SPIRE: tooled and polished ashlar. Tall Gibbsian spire rising above 2-stage Roman Doric pilastered tower with base as porch served by round-arched north and south entrances. Clock faces in each face below 3-stage octagonal spire with louvred oval openings terminating as tapering, facetted steeple with blind oculi lucarnes.

INTERIOR: re-cast to east and re-furbished, 1927. Gallery at west; chancel and semi-circular apse; communion table, pulpit and font also l927. Marble paving to chancel and apse, lit by 3 stained glass windows (circa l927 by Stephen Adam Studios). Coombed ceiling, segmental barrel-vault over chancel. Various 19th and earlier 20th century mural memorial plaques.

Statement of Interest

Place of worship building in use as such. The design of this church was based on that for St Andrew's in Dundee (1774). The Banff Kirk Session Minutes and the Scotsman records that the 1927 re-casting and refurbishment of the church was to plans and specifications prepared by Jeffrey Wadell and Young. The cost was estimated at £7,900 and the work was largely paid for by Misses Katherine, Helen and Susan Martin, St Catherine's, Banff to whom there is a memorial plaque in the chancel dated 1929. The original fenestration of the south elevation was altered in l927 with 2 long round-headed central windows being replaced by the present fenestration pattern.

The church was built to replace the old St Mary's Church at High Shore, which was largely demolished in 1797 leaving only a south aisle (see separate listing).

Statutory address and listed building record updated in 2014. Previously listed as 'High Street, St Mary's Church of Scotland'.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17774984

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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