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Publication Account

Date 1996

Event ID 1016727

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016727

The church with its pleasant white-harled exterior and neat belfry stands on a knoll above the street. The site may be early, for a Pictish cross-slab stood here (now in Dunrobin Museum). There was a 'chapell of Sanct Andrew' at Golspie from at least the 14th century, and in 1619 this became the parish church. Whether the old chapel was used as such or a new church built is not known. By the mid-18th century the church had become unsafe; 'both the gavils (gables) were broke off from the side walls' and it was all pulled down and rebuilt in 1736-7 on a T-plan, with the main east-west block probably set on the old foundations. The new north aisle faced the pulpit on the south wall, and housed the handsome Sutherland loft. The church was also provided with fixed seating at this time, and the communion table pews opposite the pulpit may be of this date. The south wall soon became unsafe again, and the south aisle was added to prop it up in 1751.The east and west lofts were originally rather simple, and the present stepped lofts were only made about 1849. Most of the pews were replaced in 1954 but resemble the originals.

The pulpit with its carved backboard and canopy is dated 1738 and the Sutherland loft 1739. The loft has panelled walls, and three slender columns support its carved entablature with painted details, including the Sutherland coat of arms. Behind the loft was a comfortable retiring room with a fireplace, reached by an outside stone stair. Here the Sutherland family could retire to eat a meal between the morning and afternoon services.

The interior of the church is an admirable example of the layout and furnishings of an 18th-century kirk. Only in the south aisle have there been changes, where an organ and seats for the choir have replaced the elders' pew, the precentor's desk and the stool of repentance.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Highlands’, (1995).

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