Description
Episcopal Church (1878–9) in the 'Early English' style, built in Aberdeen-bond granite, designed by James Matthews and Alexander Marshall Mackenzie of Aberdeen, and a two-storey, three bay former parsonage (1810, remodelled in 1880 to designs by the Reverend Edward Sugden, with adjoining stable and coach house), located beside the Water of Tarf in the grounds of St Drostan's Episcopal Church.
St Drostan's Church has an aisleless nave with corner buttressing, and a vestry and rounded apse at the east end and a porch at the west end. A granite Latin cross over the porch derives from the east gable of its predecessor (1810) building. There are also wrought iron crosses and one of stone on the ridge line. The bell is hung at a high level within a corbelled, semi-conical bellcote within the apex of the west gable. The interior has a marble-columned altar, an octagonal stone font, plain white walls and an exposed, king-post truss roof structure. In the apse are three lancet windows with coloured glass depicting Christ, St Andrew and St Peter. There is a former organ chamber in the apse chancel.
The former parsonage has a slightly lower rear wing to the north, including an adjoining stable/coach block which is also stepped down slightly in height, forming an elongated L-plan. There is a detached laundry/washhouse to the east and a former byre/store outbuilding to the west.
The front (south) elevation is of roughly coursed whinstone and granite, with reddish grey sandstone ashlar dressings and pair of projecting window bays to the ground floor. A timber door to centre has a slate-roofed porch recess with decorative timber supports running between the advanced window bays. Above, a pair of gablet dormer windows flank a central cat-slide dormer, which break the over-hanging eaves. There is decorative dentil cornicing to the gable-end chimney stacks, which have clay cans to both the front and rear sections. The roofs have a covering of grey slate. The lower wing and stable block to the rear have shouldered skewputt gables. The windows are modern uPVC replacements (after 2000).
The entrance hall of the parsonage has a timber staircase with barley-twist bannisters. All principal rooms have timber or metal fireplaces flanked by wired bell-pulls. A row of wall-mounted service bells is located in the rear wing. The kitchen in the rear wing incorporates a corbelled stone fireplace surviving from the earlier (1810) parsonage on the same site.
The adjoining stable and coach block to the rear of the parsonage has a cart entrance to the west elevation with a relieving-arch opening and an upper hayloft with a hoist door breaking the line of the eaves. The lower section has cobbled floors with drainage channels, octagonal timber stall posts, and bridle hooks. Adjoining to the east of the stable block is a small lean-to outshot with a slate roof - possibly a dairy or larder. Internally, it has niches in the wall and a flag stone floor.
To the immediate east of the stable block is a detached laundry/washhouse with a modern metal sheet roof covering (circa 2010), a circular heated stone wash basin and terracotta brick tile flooring. A detached store/former byre with a slated roof is located to the west of the stable block.
The site containing the church and parsonage is bounded by low rubble stone walls with saddle-back coping stones. There are gatepiers with pointed capstones to the south wall, and further vehicular openings with rubble piers to the east and north.
The former schoolhouse of around 1850, located to the west of the church and parsonage, is a simple, single-storey, rectangular plan building with lean-to outshots at the gables. Extensions in 1983 and 2002, have created an L-plan hostel/retreat, more than doubling the footprint of the building.
The steading range, which appears to relate to a detached farmhouse to the west, is of standard planform and construction, with no special features for its age and building type.
Both the schoolhouse and steading range are excluded from the listing (see 'Legal exclusions' below).
Historical development
An Episcopal chapel and parsonage were first erected on this site in 1810 on land provided by the Earl of Dalhousie.
In 1878 the chapel was demolished. It was replaced in 1879 by the current Church of St Drostan's by Lord Forbes in memory of his brother, Alexander Penrose Forbes, Bishop of Brechin. The church was the fourth Episcopal Church to have been built in the vicinity of Tarfside (see under social historical interest).
Following the completion of St Drostan's Church, the parsonage was substantially remodelled and extended in 1880–81 to plans by Reverend Edward Sugden.
The parsonage was last used as accommodation for the local parson in 1921. In the 1930s the building was leased. Changes to the building in the late 20th to early 21st century include replacement non-traditional uPVC windows and a metal roof covering to the detached laundry/washhouse outbuilding.
The former schoolhouse (of 1850) ceased to function as a school in around 1870 due to reductions in the population of Glenesk at that time. The building was later leased by the church for residential purposes, until around 1980. It is now used as holiday accommodation (https://www.stdrostans.org/the-lodge.html).
The altered, partly ruinous remains of a U-plan steading range of whin / sandstone construction beyond the north boundary wall of the church site is evident on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1864. It is understood to have historical associations with the Episcopal Church, providing stabling for travelling members of the congregation but was principally related to the detached farmhouse to the west. The building is now disused (2024).
Statement of Special Interest
St Drostan's Episcopal Church and former parsonage, Tarfside meet the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:
- For the notable quality of design, construction, and detailing of the church as major example of its building type.
- For the good quality materials of the parsonage, its time depth and its largely intact exterior and interior, including the extent of associated service buildings
- As a largely complete group of buildings that retain their setting and late-19th century character, including the rare survival of ancillary components.
- For their association with the long-established history of Episcopacy in Glen Esk.
In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: former schoolhouse to west and U-plan steading range to north.
Architectural interest
Design
Built in 1879 to designs by the practice of Matthews and Mackenzie of Aberdeen, the Church of St Drostan's has special architectural interest as a significant example of their work and a notable example of a church in the 'Early English' Gothic style. The construction material is a high-quality granite, described at the time as 'the finest granite that can be obtained in the neighbourhood, with the dressed stones being prepared in and brought from Aberdeen' (Dundee Advertiser, 1879). The building is little-altered to the exterior and interior.
The parsonage of 1810 was substantially remodelled and improved in 1880–81 in response to the construction of the new church, producing 'one of the most complete and best-appointed parsonages in the diocese' (Luscombe, 1990). Executed to the designs of Reverend Edward Sugden, it represents one of the earliest examples of his work. It has interest for its high-quality materials, which were designed to harmonise with the associated church building.
The parsonage building, as remodelled in the late 19th century, is little altered, and the two principal building phases are evident in the exterior and interior plan form, the infilled gable windows and the internal floor levels. The corbelled fireplace in the kitchen also survives from the earlier building. The design indicates how the building was altered to suit the changing needs of the incumbent parson, while also demonstrating changing architectural fashion. The ancillary components (stable, washhouse etc) are unusual survivals and survive largely as first built.
Matthews and Mackenzie was a prominent and prolific architectural practice based in Aberdeen. Alexander Marshall Mackenzie (born 1848) established his own independent practice in Elgin at the age of twenty-two. In 1877, he partnered with James Matthews, undertaking the design work of the Aberdeen office from 1883 while Matthews carried out civic architectural duties as provost, principally on Rosemount Viaduct and Union Terrace in Aberdeen.
The Reverend Edward Sugden (1850-1901) trained as an architect in England before entering Theological College, and then moving to Dundee in 1873. Ordained as a priest in 1879, he went on to design several Episcopal churches and halls including St John's Episcopal Church and Hall (1885, LB25168) in Dundee.
Setting
The Church of St Drostan's and former parsonage have a rural setting in the small village of Tarfside in the Glen Esk valley. Set within garden grounds bounded by stone walls and located beside the tree-lined Water of Tarf, these near contemporaneous buildings continue to relate visually with each other and with their wider surroundings. They are intervisible, built of similar materials and the former functional association between the two buildings remains clearly evident.
Overall, the setting is comparable to that depicted in the second Ordnance Survey edition (revised 1900, published 1902), and includes other nearby structures of 19th century date – the 1830 bridge over the Water of Tarf (LB11360), a former schoolhouse and a separate steading range to the north (also see Legal exclusions below).
As a group, the church, former parsonage, associated boundary walls, gatepiers, adjoining stable and detached outbuildings have special architectural interest for their setting, which is generally little-altered and contributes to an understanding of the buildings' respective religious and domestic functions.
Historic interest
Age and rarity
Rural 19th century churches and associated residences such as manses and parsonages are not rare building types. Many survive in and around small settlements across Scotland. While purpose-built parsonages and manses are a prolific building type commonly associated with listed churches across Scotland, little altered examples that are associated specifically with Episcopal worship are more unusual. Purpose-built Episcopal churches are also less common as fewer were built compared to other denominations. Major examples include St James the Great Episcopal Church in Stonehaven (built 1875–77, LB41552) and the later St Thomas' Episcopal Church in Aboyne (built 1907–09, LB47053).
In this case, the Episcopal church and former parsonage at Tarfside are a particularly high quality and complete group, within a rural, riverside setting that retains much of its late-19th-century character. The survival of the adjoining and detached ancillary components of the former parsonage (stable, coachhouse, laundry/washhouse) with their interior fixtures, is particularly rare and adds to the special historic interest.
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.
The present Church of St Drostan's and the former parsonage at Tarfside relate to a long-established tradition of Episcopal worship in this part of Scotland. The Scottish Episcopal Church began as a distinct church after the mid-16th century Protestant Reformation when several theological movements splintered away from the Catholic Church. Glen Esk became a stronghold of Episcopacy in Angus after the Reformation (Jervise, 1882). A handbell dated 1728 and dedicated to David Rose, the first recorded Episcopal minister in Glen Esk, was kept at the Tarfside parsonage for many years (Jervise, 1882) and is now in the Glenesk Folk Museum.
Episcopacy in Glen Esk survived persecution by church and state throughout much of the 18th century. The Episcopal chapel which stood on the Hill of Rowan, about a mile west of the village of Tarfside, was set on fire by Royalist Government troops in 1746. After seventeen years of Episcopalian worship at various locations in the Glen including among the ruins of the destroyed chapel, a replacement was erected in 1763, seemingly on the same site, with a roof 'thatched with heather' (Luscombe, 2003). The foundation stones of this chapel are listed at category C (LB11354). A third Episcopal chapel, built in 1810 at the foot of the hill, in Tarfside, was demolished and replaced in 1879 by the current Church of St Drostan's, the fourth to have been erected.
The church and former parsonage have special historic interest as evidence for religious practice and the continuing Episcopalian tradition in this part of Scotland in the 19th century.
Association with people or events of national importance
There are no known associations with a person or event of national importance.
Statutory address amended and listed building record revised in 2025. Previously listed as 'St. Drostan's Episcopal Church, Tarfside'.
Legal exclusions
In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: former schoolhouse to west and steading range to north of site.
The former schoolhouse (1850) is a simple, single-storey, rectangular plan building with lean-to outshots at the gables was later leased by the church for residential purposes, until around 1980. Extensions in 1983 and 2002, have created an L-plan hostel/retreat, more than doubling the footprint of the building. While the elements of the school of mid- 19th century character contribute to the setting of the church and parsonage, its standard design and degree of later extension and alteration means it is not found to be of special interest for listing.
The altered, partly ruinous remains of a U-plan steading range, which appears to relate to the detached Tarfside Farmhouse to the west, is of standard planform and construction, with no special features for its age and building type. It is also excluded from the listing.