Inverness, Southside Road, St Stephen's Church
Church (19th Century) (1895)-(1897)
Site Name Inverness, Southside Road, St Stephen's Church
Classification Church (19th Century) (1895)-(1897)
Canmore ID 103064
Site Number NH64SE 168
NGR NH 67038 44708
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/103064
- Council Highland
- Parish Inverness And Bona
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Inverness
- Former County Inverness-shire
St Stephens’s Parish church was recorded as part of the Threatened Buildings Survey on 19th January 2022. In 1971 St Stephen’s was linked with the Old High Kirk of Inverness and later the Old High St Stephen’s parish was formed. This resulted in the closure of the Old High Kirk in March 2022. The 2022 Draft Presbytery Plan proposes that St Stephen’s will be closing and a new combined congregation will worship at Crown Church, Inverness.
In 1894 Rev Norman Macleod, commemorated in a stained glass window in the nave, proposed the building of a new church. Macleod was at that time minister of the Old High Kirk. The site on the corner of Southside Road and Old Edinburgh Road was acquired for £260.00. A limited architectural competition was held for Inverness architects and on 16th January 1895 William L Carruthers was selected as architect. The National Record of the Historic Environment holds drawings by Carruthers showing an earlier scheme dated 1895 (IND 120/2) and later drawings of the church as built. (IND 120/1 and IND 120/3-18.) The foundation stone was laid in August 1896 and the church was completed in the autunm of 1897 at a cost of £3,450. The dedication service was held on Friday 15th October 1897.
The church is built of stone from the Rosebank Quarries in Moray under a slated roof with red ridge tiles. A. Ballantine & Sons supplied some of the stained glass and the organ is by Wadsworth and Brothers 1902.
Architect: W.L. Carruthers 1895
See also: NH64NE 613 Inverness, New Established Church [possibly the same church]
