Building record MAB6740 - SOUTH PARISH CHURCH, MORAY STREET, ELGIN

Parish church, no longer in ecclesiastical use, designed by A and W Reid in 1852, and built in 1852-4.

Parish church, no longer in ecclesiastical use, designed by A and W Reid in 1852, and built in 1852-4. Originally a free Kirk (South United Free Church) and then a Church of Scotland. It is a Gothic building, with a 130 feet (40 metre) spire and bell tower. There is a later 19th century small church room added to the South gable. It is a five-bay rectangular church oriented roughly North-South, built of coursed rubble with ashlar dressings. The tower is three-stage, with a tooled facetted spire with lucarnes (slender dormers) on alternate faces. It has stepped angle buttresses, and the entrance is under a pointed moulded head at the North. There are small lancets in the lower stage and paired belfry openings in the third stage, with a clock above in each face. The bell was installed in 1877. There are two-light windows on the gable flanking the tower, with outer buttresses and crocketted finials. The flanks of the church have narrow cusped lancets with hoodmoulds alternated by buttresses, and the roof is slate. It closed some years ago and made redundant in circa 2000, at which time all of the pews were removed from the church, as well as some areas of flooring and panelling, although the timber columns and decorative work to the balcony of the upper gallery still remain. The nave is a five by one bay space flanked by timber octagonal columns supporting an upper gallery. A building survey was carried out by AOC in 2014 prior to development. As of July 2016, it is used as a climbing centre.

Period Notes
Built in 1852-4, bell installed 1877. Listed designation given on 20/08/1981.

WATSON, J, 1868, MORAYSHIRE DESCRIBED, 217 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2003.

HOWAT, AJ, 1901, CHURCHES IN MORAY, 23 (Bibliographic reference). SAB729.

MACKINTOSH, HB, 1914, ELGIN PAST & PRESENT, 147 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1144.

AOC ARCHAEOLOGY, 2014, SOUTH CHURCH, MORAY STREET, ELGIN: HISTORIC BUILDING RECORDING REPORT, L1 SBS (Bibliographic reference). SAB5506.

AOC ARCHAEOLOGY, 2014, SOUTH CHURCH, MORAY STREET, ELGIN: HISTORIC BUILDING RECORDING WRITTEN SCHEME OF INVESTIGATION, WSI (Bibliographic reference). SAB5511.

ARCAHEOLOGY SCOTLAND, 2015, DISCOVERY AND EXCAVATION IN SCOTLAND. NEW SERIES, VOLUME 15, 2014, p.138 (Bibliographic reference). SAB5542.

Feb 27 2008 , AAS-GR-08-02-032, AAS-GR-08-02-032 (Ground Photograph). SAB36171.

Record last edited

Jan 13 2025 10:26AM