Building record MAB5725 - ST MARY'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, CHAPELTOWN

St.

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, also known as 'Our Lady of Perpetual Succour', and associated graveyard. The current church was built in 1896-7, on the site of an earlier church built in circa 1835. Abbe Paul MacPherson of Wester Scalan (4 March 1756 – 24 November 1846) had wished to establish a Roman Catholic parish church at Scalan after the closure of the seminary (NJ21NW0004) in 1799, and the final departure of Rev James Sharp in 1808. It was not until 1828 that he was given a piece of barren ground at Littletown of Eskemulloch (now Chapeltown) where he established a church and school, both superseded by present buildings. The present church was designed by John Kinross of Edinburgh in a relatively simple Scottish Romanesque style, and financed by the Marquis of Bute. It is a rectangular church, orientated roughly North-South, and fronted at the South by a 3-stage square gabled tower with an entrance in centre of the North face. It is harled, with pink tooled granite dressings. The entrance is a recessed pointed-headed doorway with moulded surrounds and double-leaf plank doors with ornate cast-iron hinges. There is also a marble plaque in the entrance from the earlier church, which commemorates Abbe Paul Macpherson. A canopied niche above the entrance houses a statue of Our Lady. The tower has long and short angle dressings, with a crowstepped gable, apex cross and grouped quatrefoil vents in each face. The long, 4-bay nave elevations are lit by narrow hoodmoulded round-headed lights with leaded glazing. The chancel is lit by a round-headed tripartite under a continuous hoodmould in the East elevation, below a diminutive arcaded eaves band. There is a lean-to sacristy at the West and a slate roof. There are richly stencilled lofty aisles to the interior. The stencilled decoration continues to a panelled gallery front across the North end of the church. There is a high chancel with plain walls and a richly decorated timber barrel vaulted ceiling. Carved canopied reredos have paintings of saints, flanking a central picture of Our Lady, all with gilded backgrounds. There is a 5-panelled front to the altar, and each panel is illustrated with an angel with a musical instrument. There are simple pine pews and a facetted pulpit, decorated with vines on an ashlar base, and a marble font. Within the church entrance is a wall memorial plaque dedicated to 'Men of this Chapeltown Glenlivet congregation who laid down their loves in the Great War of 1914 - 1919'. The church is linked at the West to the Chapel House which was built in 1830-40, and raised to 2 storeys in the later 19th century. It is a South-East facing, 2-storey symmetrical 3-bay house, with a symmetrical 3-window rear elevation. It is linked by a 2-storey, single bay wing to the chancel. The centre door is masked by a late-19th century gabled and glazed porch. 4- and 12-pane glazing is used, and there are end stacks on a Tomintoul slate roof. The Chapel House formerly served as a Presbytery. There is a rubble walled graveyard dating from circa 1840, to the rear of the church with 19th century tomb stones, many of local slate. Monumental inscriptions within the graveyard were recorded by the Moray Burial Ground Research Group in 2007-8. The school and school house buildings built in 1832 and 1860 (NJ22SW0136) are directly to the North-West of the church.

Period Notes
Built in 1896-7, on the site of a church from circa 1830. It was designated on 22/02/1972, and its status was changed from a B to an A on 09/11/1987.

BN 1364, BN 1364 (Ground Photograph). SAB30404.

Img 303, 305-311, 313, Img 303, 305-311, 313 (Ground Photograph). SAB36067.

HOWAT, AJ, 1901, CHURCHES IN MORAY, 11 (Bibliographic reference). SAB729.

MCKEAN, C, 1987, MORAY: AN ILLUSTRATED ARCHITECTURAL GUIDE, p.167 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1142.

MORAY BURIAL GROUND RESEARCH GROUP, 2008, MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS: CHAPELTOWN CHURCHYARD,TOMBAE CHURCHYARD AND GLENLIVET (TOMNAVOULIN) WAR MEMORIAL (Bibliographic reference). SAB7638.

Apr 18 2014 , AAS-GR-14-04-146 - 147, AAS-GR-14-04-146 - 147 (Ground Photograph). SAB30832.

Author unknown, n.d., THE NORTHERN SCOT, 05/09/97 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1270.

Sep 24 2005 , AAS-GR-05-09-047 to 051, AAS-GR-05-09-047 to 051 (Ground Photograph). SAB36128.

Record last edited

Sep 5 2025 10:21AM