Following the launch of trove.scot in February 2025 we are now planning the retiral of some of our webservices. Canmore will be switched off on 24th June 2025. Information about the closure can be found on the HES website: Retiral of HES web services | Historic Environment Scotland
Crathie Parish Church
Church (19th Century)
Site Name Crathie Parish Church
Classification Church (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Crathie Kirk
Canmore ID 107165
Site Number NO29SE 11
NGR NO 26541 94947
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/107165
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Crathie And Braemar
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NMRS REFERENCE:
Crathie Church.
Plans:
'Transactions of the Aberdeen Ecclesiological Society', 1895 - Notes with photograph and plan.
Publication Account (1986)
Perched on a ledge above the Dee, this tall cruciform church is the work of A Marshall Mackenzie; it replaces a church of1804. From the west door, the first impression of the interior is deceptively simple: a rather dull kirk with bare grey walls, dark woodwork and high, bright windows. On approaching the crossing, Mackenzie's skill becomes evident. He has contrived a space of generalised ecclesiastical intent (nodding to several different traditions), which can function as a place of public worship for the Royal Family when at Balmoral. The royal pew is in the south transept, entered from a wooden porch. The wide, shallow chancel is decidedly Anglican in inspiration, being approached up four steps and containing a grandiose marble 'communion table' (equalled in the Scottish Kirk only in the metropolitan splendour of St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh) and a hexagonal pulpit that is also a minor lapidarium (fashioned from 18 different granites and bearing pebbles ofIona marble wllected by HRH Princess Louise). Crathie's secondary, and compelling, function as a royal ancestor shrine is seen most clearly in the central space, the crossing, whose pillars contain canopied recesses for portrait busts of Queen Victoria, King George V and King George VI.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian’, (1986).
Publication Account (1996)
Perched on a ledge above the Dee, this tall cruciform church is the work of A Marshall Mackenzie; it replaces a church of 1804. From the west door, the first impression of the interior is deceptively simple: a rather dull kirk with bare grey walls, dark woodwork and high, bright windows.
On approaching the crossing, Mackenzie's skill becomes evident. He has contrived a space of generalised ecclesiastical intent (nodding to several different traditions), which can function as a place of public worship for the Royal Family when at Balmoral. The royal pew is in the south transept, entered from a wooden porch. The wide, shallow chancel is decidedly Anglican in inspiration, being approached up four steps and containing a grandiose marble 'communion table' (equalled in the Scottish Kirk only in the metropolitan splendour of St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh) and a hexagonal pulpit that is also a minor lapidarium (fashioned from 18 different granites and bearing pebbles of Iona marble collected by HRH Princess Louise). Crathie's secondary, and compelling, function as a royal ancestor shrine is seen most clearly in the central space, the crossing, whose pillars contain canopied recesses for portrait busts of Queen Victoria, King George V and King George VI.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Aberdeen and North-East Scotland’, (1996).
