Church Overview

Legend asserts that there has been a church at Foss since the mid-7th century, when an ecclesiastical foundation is said to have been established here by St Chad and his brother as they returned south from a pilgrimage to Iona. The medieval church on the site fell out of use during the Reformation and its ruined shell was apparently demolished and rebuilt to form the current building in 1821.

It consists of a simple rubble-built rectangular kirk, with two plain windows to the front, a small porch and a distinctive bellcote, containing a locally cast bell dated 1824. The interior had been altered, but still housed its original timber pulpit.

It is surrounded by a small enclosed graveyard and behind it sits an even older cemetery, providing clear signs of the length of use and religious significance of this site. The oldest extant memorials date to the 18th century and the crenellated burial enclosure of the Stewarts of Kinnichan and Kinneard is of some interest.

The wartime minister of Foss and Tummel Parish was the Rev William Gilles, who married Estonian refugee Elsa Lustig in 1946. In her 2021 memoir, The Wings of Love, Elsa’s daughter Astrid Wilson describes moving to the rural community after being displaced during World War Two and the local scandal caused when her birth father unexpectedly emerged alive from a prisoner of war camp in 1947.

Foss Kirk was latterly linked with the congregations of Braes of Rannoch, Fortingall, Glen Lyon and Kenmore, but only held services in the summer months. It was closed and sold by the Church of Scotland in 2020, during a period of nationwide rationalisation of its property portfolio by the denomination. The church building is now in private ownership, but the surrounding and adjacent historic graveyards remain open and in the care of the local authority.

Church has now closed

Disclaimer

The information about churches in Scotland’s Churches Scheme has been provided by the congregations or taken from the Historic Scotland list and published sources, in particular, the Buildings of Scotland volumes and the RIAS Illustrated Architectural Guides. To contact this specific church please complete the Contact this Church form above. The information is not authoritative; please contact Scotland’s Churches Trust to let us know of any errors or omissions.