Prof Adam Cumming, the chairperson of our board of trustees, has blogged for us about a recent visit to Moray, in north east Scotland, where he and his wife Lesley toured around some of that beautiful county’s remarkable historic churches.

In May, I had the chance to visit a few of the surviving mediaeval churches in Moray. Based in Elgin, we visited several in the ancient province including two former cathedrals, at Birnie and Mortlach.

We did of course visit the ruins of Elgin Cathedral – even in ruins, an amazing building!

But the Elgin highlight was the visit to the former Greyfriars, restored by the Marquis of Bute and now the home to the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia.  We were made very welcome. 

Sympathetically restored and furnished, it shows what a friary church of the fifteenth century looked like.

I mentioned Birnie, whose church is over 800 years old, and which served as the first cathedral of Moray.  While closed by the Church of Scotland, it is finding new life as an ecumenical centre, with regular services, many Roman Catholic, so that, after nearly 500 years, Mass is again being celebrated there. 

They have a short period to establish themselves and are well on the way to doing so but need support of all kinds, for it is far from easy.  There is a Pictish symbol stone in the kirkyard and the symbols form part of the design of one of the beautiful windows.  The kirk is simple, mainly Romanesque, with an elegant chancel arch and a square east end, with no apse.  Its loss to its community and to Scotland would be great.

The same can be said about Cullen Auld Kirk, also under threat of closure. This thirteenth century church near the original site of Cullen (the burgh was moved closer to the sea and away from Cullen House) demonstrates many aspects of its history. 

Never revamped to fit late 19^th century ideas of what a church should be, it has a wonderful laird’s loft, two mediaeval tombs and a 16^th century carved sacrament house, as well as many changes to fit the needs of its community. We were made very welcome by those stewarding it: they shared their love of the building and its part in their community.

Incidentally, a similar Sacrament House, possibly by the same mason, is in the nearby ruin of Deskford Kirk!  These carved cupboards for the Sacrament were common in the north east.

Finally, I mentioned Mortlach, whose cathedral role was transferred to Aberdeen.  Again, an old site with a 13^th century kirk adapted for changing needs but striking in its scale and design.  We could not get in, for there was a concert, but I have some internal photos from 1980, which show what it is like.

We enjoyed exploring Moray but there is more (Pluscarden Abbey for example) and many later churches built with care and skill that need to be appreciated and saved for the broader community – a common theme across Scotland!

Our thanks to Prof Cumming for this illustrated tour of some of Moray’s historic churches. If you would like to share a blog of a tour of some churches in your local area, or perhaps from somewhere in Scotland that you have holidayed recently, do please get in touch!