sChurch Overview

In 1843, following the Great Disruption, the Rev. Francis William Grant, the local dissenting Church of Scotland minister, and the new Free Church congregation of Banff approached the office-bearers of Banff’s Seatown Chapel to ask for temporary use of their chapel until they could build a new church of their own. One of their new elders then wrote to the Earl Of Seafield, who had recently granted part of Banff Castle grounds for a new thoroughfare to be known as South Castle Street. It was suggested to the landowner that a tastefully built church would enhance the new street and a site was duly granted.

James Raeburn, an Edinburgh-based architect who was originally from Banffshire, was engaged and plans drawn. The foundation stone was laid in August 1843 and records show that following the custom of the time, coins of the realm to the value of 11 1/2 pence were interred (most likely a sixpence, groat, penny and half-penny). Given the name Trinity Church, the exact date of its opening is unclear, but it is thought to have been late May or early June 1844, and the total cost of the building was £1,800.

It was designed in a monumental Greek Classical style. The façade of the cruciform church is of Palladian design with a pedimented portico with Ionic columns and pilasters, giving access to three entrance doors. The portico is surmounted by a plinth and octagonal drum belfry with a domed top. The interior, refurbished in l876, has timber-fronted galleries supported by cast-iron columns. The timber roof has a complex structure of trusses configured in an interesting layout. The leaded stained glass windows have an elegant simple design on all 28 windows, with the three large windows having a sympathetic but more detailed fern motif.

Dwight Lyman Moody, American evangelist, and Ira David Sankey, Moody’s choir director who composed and sang gospel hymns, famously visited the Church in 1874. Known for a time as Trinity and Alvah Free Church, following reunification of denominations the building subsequently passed to the Church of Scotland who worshipped there until 1995. The neighbouring church hall (originally a day school built in 1844) was acquired in 2001 by the Riverside Christian Church movement and renamed the Harvest Centre.

The Riverside congregation then acquired the Trinity & Alvah Church next door and set about raising the required £450,000 to restore this iconic building. Major conservation and restoration work took place 2013-16, retaining the most significant features of the building while making it fit as a place of worship once again and an adaptable community facility. In 2016, the Riverside Churches became members of the Antioch Movement. 

Services

Sundays at 10am

Opening Arrangements

Open by arrangement

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.