Church Overview

In 1900, many congregations of the Free Church of Scotland chose to unite with the United Presbyterian Church to form the new United Free Church, but in Nairn many members of the local Free Church congregation dissented and chose to maintain their own separate denominational identity.

The legal title to the local Free Church that had opened just after the Disruption, and much of its associated property passed to the congregation of the new United Free Church, with the original Free Church congregation only retaining ownership of a small church hall in King Street. This proved unsuitable for their needs and it was decided to erect a new church building in the town to hold their services. The symbolic site on the corner of Gordon Street and King Street was chosen because this had been the piece of ground upon which the Free Church party had originally met in 1843.

Built 1908-09, this striking sandstone church, with its delightfully sturdy buttressed tower fronting onto its prominent corner site, was designed by noted Falkirk architect James Strang. One of most important instructions given to Strang by his clients was to ensure that the new church had excellent acoustics, allowing all the words spoken during services to be clearly heard by the entire congregation.   

A major restoration project was undertaken in 2022 to address the impacts of coastal weather and climate change, by replacing eroded stonework, repointing the building and the installation of new gutters that are better able to deal with the massive volume of water being collected on its broad roof.  

Services

Sundays at 11am and 6pm 

Opening Arrangements

Open by arrangement. 

Disclaimer

The information about churches on the Scotland’s Churches Trust website has been provided by the congregations/owners or taken from the Historic Environment Scotland listings and other published sources, in particular, the Buildings of Scotland volumes and the RIAS Illustrated Architectural Guides. To contact this specific church please reach out to the church directly on its own website. This information is not authoritative; please contact Scotland’s Churches Trust to let us know of any errors or omissions.