Building record MAB3404 - ST LAURENCE CHURCH, HIGH STREET, FORRES

Parish Church and kirkyard, built in 1904 by John Robertson, Inverness, on the site of an earlier chapel and church.

Parish Church and kirkyard, built in 1904 by John Robertson, Inverness, on the site of an earlier chapel and church. The site may have been in use as a religious site since as early as the 9th Century AD, however the earliest known structure on this site was a chapel built by Alexander III in 1255, dedicated to St Laurence, as a memorial to his late wife Margaret. It is said to have been burnt by the Wolf of Badenoch during the destruction of Forres in 1390 and subsequently rebuilt. This early chapel apparently survived until 1775, when a replacement church was built. This second church was deemed too small by the parish council, and after many alterations it was demolished in 1901, with the foundation stone of its replacement, the present St Laurence church, being laid in 1904. It is a large Gothic Edwardian church, orientated East/West, and constructed of bull-faced rubble, with finely tooled and patterned dressings of lighter stone inside and out. The stone came from Newton Quarries, near Elgin. It was designed to act as a focal point for the entire town, and its impressive spires and pinnacles dominate the Forres skyline. The main entrance to the church is in the East gable, in a recessed porch with a large decorated Gothic window over it. There is a small bell-cast spire to the left that is lit by long lancets and a three-stage tower to the right surmounted by pinnacles and a steeple. It features angle buttresses, and has five-bay flanks with lancets at the lower course, and paired or triple lancets within Gothic arches at the upper level. The apse is at the West end, with three long lancet windows. Inside, the timber panelled roofs are open, and there is a gallery at the North front with Gothic decoration, divided by pillars. There is a continuous gallery from the North to the West end, with a shallow ogee front. The East and West stained glass windows are by Percy C. Bacon (London), and were unveiled in September 1922. The West window was dedicated to the memory of those from the Congregation who gave their lives in World War I. The window at the East end is dedicated to the memory of Rev. Dr James Keith, who was minister of the Parish of Forres from 1852 to 1905. The stained glass windows at both the upper and lower levels of the South elevation, and a single window in Baptistry, were all designed by Aberdeen-born artist/designer Dr Douglas Strachan between 1931 and 1939, and were commissioned, and gifted to the parish, by Sir Alexander and Lady Grant of Logie, Forres. The Strachan windows are a superb example of 20th Century design, and of the 20 surviving windows in Scotland designed and created by Strachan, St Laurence Church is home to 14. The font is by Stewart McGlashan and Co., Edinburgh, a copy of the font at Dryburgh Abbey, in white marble. The pulpit is octagonal, built in Caen lime stone (Pierre de Caen) with reddish marble columns, by Hardman, Powell and Co., Birmingham. The holy table is of similar stone with green marble embellishments, by Galbraith and Winton, Glasgow. In glass panels in the door into the main church are a World War I and a World War II Roll of Honour, the latter with the addition of one name from the Korean War 1953. Below the WWII Roll a small brass plaque commemorates a solder of the Gulf War, 1991. A book of remembrance is housed within a display case in the main church. Also within the entrance hall is a tablet commemorating Lieutenant Colonel Colquhoun Grant, a British Army soldier who served as an intelligence officer during the Napoleonic Wars. During the construction of the present church, the medieval kirkyard was destroyed, but the later 18th century gatepiers, a pair of polished ashlar channelled corniced gatepiers surmounted by ball finials, survive. They are linked by a short curved wall, surmounted by spearheaded railings to flanking square rough ashlar corniced piers. A rough coped ashlar wall with encloses the kirkyard. The present church cost £9600 to build. Also known as St Lawrence Church.

Period Notes
Original chapel built by Alexander III in 1275; burnt 1390, re-erected immediately after; second church built 1775, with subsequent alterations, demolished 1901. Replaced by present church 1904-6. 1775 gatepiers survive. Stained glass dates to 1922 and 1931-1939.

HOWAT, AJ, 1901, CHURCHES IN MORAY, 28 (Bibliographic reference). SAB729.

DOUGLAS, R, 1934, ANNALS OF FORRES, 241 (Bibliographic reference). SAB356.

CANT, R. G., 1948, OLD MORAY: A DESCRIPTION OF OLD BUILDINGS, 7 (Bibliographic reference). SAB614.

DI FALCO, J, 1967, PSAS 90(1966-7) 211-54, 247 (Bibliographic reference). SAB352.

TURNER-SIMPSON, A, 1982, HISTORIC FORRES, 6, 17-18 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1978.

Apr 3 2015 , AAS-GR-15-04-190, AAS-GR-15-04-190 (Ground Photograph). SAB35473.

Apr 3 2015 , AAS-GR-15-04-244, AAS-GR-15-04-244 (Ground Photograph). SAB35806.

Apr 27 2013 , AAS-GR-13-04-141 - 282, AAS-GR-13-04-141 - 282 (Ground Photograph). SAB34804.

Sep 27 2022 , PUB-GR-22-09-065 - 076, PUB-GR-22-09-065 - 076 (Ground Photograph). SAB36190.

Record last edited

Oct 12 2022 12:42PM