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• Type

  Map

  Title

  Map for Former Logie Easter Church, Kildary, Invergordon (LB52671)

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600041143)

Summary

Description

Dating from 1905, the former Logie Easter Church was built as a United Free Church and later became the Parish Church (until 2022). The church is designed in the early medieval Gothic style and is roughly rectangular on plan with transepts visible at the gabled front elevation. It is constructed in coursed and snecked red sandstone with base course, moulded string course and dentilled eaves course (ashlar to principal elevations, rubble to rear). The church is prominently sited along a minor road, set within its own garden ground and bounded by low rubble walls and two entrances, one with a pair of gatepiers with pyramidal caps. A war memorial is sited on the opposite side of the road (see separate proposal).

The principal (south) elevation is three bays wide. The central section projects and has a buttressed and gabled front. There is a central moulded and pointed arched doorway with double-leaf timber doors, flanked by slim lancet windows. There is a large, three-light lancet window with hoodmouldings above. The gable apex has a bellcote with ball finial and iron weathervane on top. The bell is dated 1924.

The side elevations have four pairs of lancet windows interspersed by plain buttresses. The rear (north) elevation has three narrow slits in the gable apex. A single-storey hall/vestry is attached to the rear of the church. It has a separate exterior entrance on the west elevation.

The glazing throughout is predominantly coloured leaded glass in arch-headed openings. The openings to the hall are mostly shouldered with leaded glazing. The roofs are covered in slates with ventilators along the roof ridges. The hall has end chimneystacks with decorative cans.

The interior has been converted for community use and most of the pews removed. The interior is otherwise intact and includes a boarded and buttressed timber roof with decorative fretwork ventilator covers, the roof beams sitting on stone corbels. There remains boarded wainscotting throughout, timber staircases with balusters and some gallery furniture. The north end of the nave has a carved Gothic style stepped platform pulpit with brass fixtures and fittings all set within a pointed arched recess with decorative paintwork. There is a timber fire surround and timber staircase in the vestry/hall. There is a commemorative marble plaque to the first minister of the church.

The church site is bounded by mid-height rubble walls with rubble coping stones. There are three entrances into the site, the principal one to the south has a pair of gatepiers with pyramidal caps.

Historical development

Logie Easter Church was built as a United Free church and was formally opened by the Reverend Dr Whyte of Edinburgh on 17 May 1905 (North Star and Farmers' Chronicle, 18 May 1905). The architects were A Maitland and Sons of Tain (Dictionary of Scottish Architects). The contractors were from Tain, including Mr J Nicol for woodwork, Urquhart and Mackay for painting, Mr M Urquhart for upholstery, Mr W Ross for masonry, Mr J Munro for plaster work, Mr D Ross for slater work and Mr Macrae for plumbing (North Star and Farmers' Chronicle, 11 May 1905).

The church is first shown on the 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1904 (published 1906). The footprint is shown as largely rectangular-plan with a single-storey hall to the rear (north) elevation. This hall/vestry was constructed for meetings, classes and for use by the minister.

The church later became the parish church for Logie Easter parish. The building was purchased from the Church of Scotland in 2022 and is now in use as a community building. Some timberwork features, such as most of the pews, the font and the communion table, were removed following the building's sale in 2022.

Statement of Special Interest

The former Logie Easter Church meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:

• It is a good representative example of an early-20^th century church in the early medieval Gothic style, appropriate to the newly formed United Free Church in the early 20^th century.
• The building has good quality stonework and architectural detailing throughout. The exterior is little altered.
• Designed by A Maitland and Sons, a prominent Tain practice who carried out numerous church commissions throughout the region and who were recognised for their work for the Free Church.
• Its immediate setting has changed very little and the building remains prominent within the landscape.

Architectural interest:

Design

Logie Easter Church is a large and well-proportioned, Gothic-style former church built in the early-20^th century. The exterior of Logie Easter Church is largely unaltered and has good architectural detailing and fine quality stonework, including a pinnacled and buttressed front elevation with triple lancet windows and angular bellcote. The church's decorative flourishes, such as its dentilled cornicing, finials and the variation in the style of openings, add to the design interest of this building.

The design of the Logie Easter Church is in the early medieval or Early English Gothic style, which is characterised by simple gabled buildings with aisleless plan forms, simple lancets and restrained detailing. The Gothic Revival style became popular in Scotland around 1840 following a renewed interest in early medieval architecture, which particularly influenced church building. Plainer early Gothic styles suited Presbyterian reformed worship, in particular the Free Church, as they were generally less decorative than the styles used for Episcopal and Catholic churches. The tall narrow lancet windows, which provide the principal decoration on the front gable and exterior of the main body of Logie Easter Church, are a good example of this plainer, Early English Gothic style, but with the added variety of pinnacles, still popular in the first quarter of the 20^th century, especially after the merger of the United Presbyterian and the Free churches in 1900.

The architects, A Maitland and Sons of Tain, practiced extensively across the Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland and Moray regions in the late-19^th and early-20^th century and are known for their residential, commercial, school and church work. Andrew Maitland (d. 1894) was known to be a prominent member of the Free Church (Ross-shire Journal) and his practice designed or worked on around 45 churches between 1875 and 1920, most of them for the Free Church and later for the United Free Church in the early Gothic style (Dictionary of Scottish Architects).

The interior of the Logie Easter Church has been altered for use as a community arts space since 2022, however many of the early-20^th century interior features remain. These features are typical for a church of this date, but the woodwork is particularly fine. The survival of the interior features adds to the special interest of the building.

Logie Easter church is a good example of a recently established United Free Church of Scotland building designed by a prominent regional architect which retains a number of good Gothic architectural details to its exterior and interior. It is of a coherent design, displaying some typical but well-detailed decorative elements, both to its interior and exterior, and which retains its early footprint, plan form and historic character.

Setting

Logie Easter Church is a prominent building within its rural setting. Surrounded by mature planting and within its own grounds, it is prominently located at the head of a junction where two minor roads meet.

The immediate setting of Logie Easter Church has changed very little since it was first depicted on the 2^nd Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1904. The former manse (now known as Logie House) is to the west, set within a private garden and obscured from the road, as was common, to afford the occupants privacy. The wider setting of the church is also similarly largely unaltered. The war memorial was built opposite the church in 1921. Commemorative memorials such as this were common additions in rural parishes, often being placed in or near the parish church.

Historic interest:

Age and rarity

Rural churches dating from the 19^th century and early-20^th century are not rare building types. Many survive in and around small settlements across Scotland. However, those of some architectural quality and which retain much of their authenticity may be of interest for listing.

Logie Easter Church is not an early or rare example of its building type. The Gothic Revival style was popular in church design from the early half of the 19^th century but matured to fruition during the latter part of the century and endured into the early-20^th century. Churches of similar quality and design, by A Maitland and Sons, which are also listed include Knockbain Parish Church in Munlochy, built in 1886 (listed at category C, LB52257) and Portmahomack Free Church, built 1892-3 (listed at category C, LB14107).

Social historical interest

Social historical interest is the way a building contributes to our understanding of how people lived in the past, and how our social and economic history is shown in a building and/or in its setting.

There is no special interest under this heading. Due to their historic key function within a community, churches inherently have socio-historical interest for the local area.

Association with people or events of national importance

There is no association with a person or event of national importance.

Other Information

The name 'Logie' comes from the Gaelic 'lagaidh' meaning hollow. An earlier church stood in a hollow at nearby Marybank (Am Baile).

On its official opening on 17 May 1905, the first church service at 11am was conducted in Gaelic by the Reverence Mr Calder of Stornoway. The 1pm service was conducted in English by the Reverend Dr Whyte, one of the "Grand Old Men” of the United Free Church (North Star and Farmers' Chronicle).

References

Bibliography

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