Glass Parish Church
Church (18th Century) (1791), War Memorial (20th Century)
Site Name Glass Parish Church
Classification Church (18th Century) (1791), War Memorial (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) St Andrew's Church; War Memorial Plaque; Capt W H V Cameron Plaque
Canmore ID 93411
Site Number NJ43NW 36
NGR NJ 43404 39964
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/93411
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Glass
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
Glass Parish Church, 1791. Plain harled rectangle with bellcote and recast Burgerhuys bell of 1642, with the large T-plan
addition and early 20th-century internal elaboration of a quality considerably above the average. There is a Lorimer font,
characteristically good glass by Douglas Strachan and an organ presented by Sir Frederick Bridge of Cairnborrow Lodge who was organist at Westminster Abbey. Renovated, 1883-4, by A & W Reid (Elgin), extended 1903, J Robertson
(Inverness). Has the same feel as Fyvie Kirk.
Taken from "Aberdeenshire: Donside and Strathbogie - An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Ian Shepherd, 2006. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
NJ43NW 36.00 43404 39964
NJ43NW 36.01 43412 39948 Churchyard
Glass Parish Church: built 1791, with extensive additions in 1903 and 1754 Mowat mort bell.
NSA 1791-9; G Hay 1957.
Photographic Survey (28 November 2007)
The church was recorded by the Threatened Buildings Survey following a request by the Church of Scotland Committee on Art and Architecture because the General Trustees were minded to close the church and put it up for sale.
Information from RCAHMS (STG)
Standing Building Recording (April 2011)
A standing building survey was undertaken in April 2011 prior to the property’s sale. The survey found that the basement/boiler room appears to retain evidence of an earlier plan. One wall, which truncates at head height, serves no weight bearing purpose and appears to have not done so since at least 1770, when the present church is said to have been remodelled. The sub-floor remains of the N wall, demolished as part of the 1903 remodelling process, suggest a well made wall of slightly greater thickness than those associated with the 18th-century rebuild. These remains might therefore relate to an earlier period of construction.
Though generally taken to have been founded as a reformed kirk in c1574, Glass was a pre-reformation parish with its own church. The location and landscaping surrounding the present church make it a likely candidate for that earlier church. For it to have been sited elsewhere would require all memory of it to have disappeared. In the former staunch Catholic Gordon homeland, this is considered unlikely.
Archive: Aberdeenshire Council SMR. Report: www.scottish-heritage.org.uk/papers
Colin Shepherd 2011
