Forest Of Birse Church

Heritage listing

Category C Date Added 30/03/2000 Local Authority Aberdeenshire Planning Authority Aberdeenshire Parish Birse NGR NO 53287 90546 Coordinates 353287, 790546 — 1891. Single storey, 3-bay, rectangular-plan plain gothic church. Aberdeen bond coursed granite rubble with tooled dressings. Pointed-arched openings. SE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: asymmetrical; gabled porch advanced to bay to right, 2-leaf boarded timber door with decorative hinges reached by 3 stone steps, iron finial to apex; window to centre bay and bay to left. NE ELEVATION: gabled; tall central window flanked by 2 slightly smaller windows; finial to apex. NW ELEVATION: blank. SW ELEVATION: simple rose window to centre. Predominantly rectangular-pane leaded and stained glass windows. Grey slate roof with tiled ridge. Stone skews with blocked skewputts. Coped gablehead stack with octagonal can to SW gable. Cast-iron rainwater goods. INTERIOR: small porch leading to rectangular-plan nave; boarded timber below dado; boarded timber roof, timber trusses with moulded timber drip stones; boarded timber pews with decorative ends. — Ecclesiastical building in use as such. The Forest of Birse Chapel is served by the same minister as the churches at Finzean, Strachan and Birse. The Birse Parish School Board built the church, which also served as a school. The present church replaces a church built in 1790 for the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, supported by 2 local heritors. The current building ceased to be a school in 1933, when there were only 3 pupils. The adjoining school teacher's house (now a ruin) was abandoned in 1896, with the teachers thereafter living at the nearby farm of Ballochan.

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.