Building record MAB3415 - ST JOHNS EPISCOPAL CHURCH, VICTORIA ROAD, FORRES

Church and rectory.

Church and rectory. The simple church was built between 1830-1840 by Patrick Wilson, Edinburgh, and substantially altered, encased in Italianate-style and refitted internally between 1842-1844 by Thomas Mackenzie, Elgin. It is in a cruciform plan, oriented north-south. It has an ashlar frontage, dressings, and a belfry, with coursed rubble and harled flanks. There is an ashlar gable to the street, with a wheel window with flanking blind panels. There are outer giant pilasters flanking a full width pediment, which is supported by pilasters. There is a three-bay arcaded portico across the full width of the gable.

To the east, there is a four-stage bell tower, with open balustraded arcades to the third and fourth stages. It has a shallow piended roof, with a corbelled eaves course and a weathervane of St. John's cross, which is surmounted by a golden cockerel. The tower is linked to the east transept of the church by a flanking, five-bay arcade similar to the portico. There are square windows set high in the wall to the aisle with simple circle sectioned tracery. There is a semi-circular apse with three stained-glass memorial windows, and round-headed paired lights to the east and west gables. It has deep eaves and a slate roof.

Inside, there is a simple interior with plain walls, a flat coffered ceiling, and a mosaic floor. There is oak seating, a pulpit, a brass altar rail, and an eagle lectern. There is a circular roof light at the crossing, and a latticed cast-iron balustrade to a narrow gallery at the south end of church. In the apse, there are mural paintings, including one depicting the Last Supper by William Hole (1907). There is a further painting by the same artist at the font, of Christ blessing little children (1911). The stained glass in the apse is by Barnett of Newcastle, and the three windows are in memory of Edward Dunbar of Seapark, Kinloss (d. 1858 aged 3). Sir Alexander Gordon-Cumming (d. 1868) and John Grant of Moy (d. 1867).

Adjacent to the east of the church is a rectory, built in 1864. It is a two-storey building, with three asymmetrical bays and a centre door, and is constructed of coursed rubble with tooled ashlar dressings. There is a heavy bracketed cornice to the front door, a tripartite window to the west of the door, and a canted bay window to the east of the door in an advanced gabled bay. There are round-headed bipartites on the first floor, the western one breaks the wall head in a dormer head, and the eastern one sits within the advanced bay gable. There are single-storey, single-bay wings to the east and eest. It has end stacks, deep eaves, and slate roofs.

GROOME, FH, 1884, ORDNANCE GAZETEER OF SCOTLAND, 1883,49 (Bibliographic reference). SAB603.

HOWAT, AJ, 1901, CHURCHES IN MORAY, 154 (Bibliographic reference). SAB729.

Author unknown, n.d., FORRES GAZETTE, 5/7/1844 (Bibliographic reference). SAB523.

Author unknown, n.d., NSA, VOL XIII,164-5 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1269.

Record last edited

Jul 21 2026 8:01PM