Building record MAB8990 - ST NINIAN'S CHAPEL, TYNET

St Ninian's Chapel is the oldest surviving post Reformation Catholic church in Scotland, and is still used for regular worship.

St Ninian's Chapel is the oldest surviving post Reformation Catholic church in Scotland, and is still used for regular worship. It is a long, low white-harled building which was a cottage and was gifted to church after the 1745 uprising. A domestic appearance was retained to prevent attracting hostile treatment. It has a 10-bay south elevation with regular fenestration and harled ashlar dressings. There is a plain square-headed entrance in the penultimate southwest bay, and the doorway to the sacristy is in the end east bay. There are six windows in the rear north elevation, mainly of 12-pane glazing. There is a stack at the east gable. The chapel was originally thatched, but was slated in 1787 re-using slates from the abandoned church at Chapelford, creating a graded Banffshire slate roof. The ball finial on the west gable apex was added in 1779 by the priest George Matheson, who also glazed the windows. Internally, a wooden partition was inserted in the late 19th century to cut off the west end due to a fall in numbers of the congregation. The interior was later restored by architect Ian Lindsay in 1951. There is a simple whitewashed interior. A plain doorway in the southern elevation leads into a lobby area. At the west end is a baptistery, which is separated from the entrance lobby by flat balustraded railings. The inner doorway leading into the nave has an ornately-carved wooden doorway with fluted Corinthian columns and is closed by a pair of 18th century fielded panelled doors with a modern partial glazing. It is likely the ornately-carved wooden doorway has been re-used from another building, as it is much more ornate than the rest of the interior fittings and furnishing. The nave has plain white-painted plaster walls and coped. The chancel is separated from the nave by a simple wooden chancel arch and by wooden railings with a central gateway. There are simple grey painted pews and confessional. The chancel is separated by turned altar rails and is framed by reeded pilasters supporting a simple wooden arch. There is a small octagonal pulpit from 1787 with an octagonal sounding board. There is fielded shaped panelling and moulded cornices.

Period Notes
Presented to the Church in 1745. There were extensive alterations 1859 and it was restored in 1951. Designated 26/01/1971.

MO 645-7, MO 645-7 (Ground Photograph). SAB30740.

HOWAT, AJ, 1901, CHURCHES IN MORAY, 49 (Bibliographic reference). SAB729.

ANSON, PF, 1950, BANFF BETHLEHEM,ST NINIANS, GUIDEBOOK (Bibliographic reference). SAB25.

HAY, G., 1957, THE ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTTISH POST-REF CHURCHES, 153,267,PL 22b (Bibliographic reference). SAB720.

McDONALD, R, 1980, CHURCH & PL,CATHOLIC INTEREST (Bibliographic reference). SAB1207.

SHEPHERD, I, 1996, ABERDEEN AND NORTH-EAST SCOTLAND (2ND ED), p. 118-9 (Bibliographic reference). SAB4829.

MORAY BURIAL GROUND RESEARCH GROUP, 2003, NEWSLETTER, Issue 13 (Bibliographic reference). SAB5098.

Jun 9 2008 , Untitled Source (Ground Photograph). SAB32192.

Author unknown, n.d., NSA, XII(1842) 122 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1269.

Sep 19 1984 , DK 16-20, DK 16-20 (Ground Photograph). SAB30739.

Record last edited

Sep 5 2025 11:26AM