Listed Building: Nigg Old Parish Church and Graveyard (LB14044)

Description 1626, renovated 1723-5, enlarged 1786; alterations 1864 by Andrew Maitland. Harled, T-plan church orientated E/W, with T-wing to N. Ashlar margins. 18th century birdcage bellcote with corner ball finials at W gable apex. S wall: 3 (fourth now door) long multi-pane windows in centre; doors to outer bays. Important Pictish cross-slab (see SCHEDULED MONUMENT No 1680) displayed within west end of church.12-pane glazing to timber sash and case windows. Slate roof, ashlar skews. Cast-iron rainwater goods. INTERIOR: E and W ends of main kirk partitioned off, creating Minister's room to E and chamber at W, later used to house Nigg cross-slab (see Notes). Later 19th century fittings in traditional T-plan lay-out. Panelled demi-octagonal pulpit with panelled and corniced back-board. Coved and corniced ceiling. Remains of 18th century gallery, seating and stairs in west chamber.GRAVEYARD AND BOUNDARY WALLS: graveyard around church on all sides. Various fine examples of 17th and 18th century funerary slabs, tabletop stones, headstones and grave markers. Some grave markers of medieval origin. Square-plan ashlar gatepiers with shallow pyramidal caps; tall, coped rubble boundary walls with later render. Notes In occasional use as place of worship. Nigg Old Parish Church is a fine example of a traditional 17th century Highland kirk and graveyard. Alterations to the building were carried out in the 18th century to form a T-plan. The birdcage bellcote was added in 1723-5. Its bell was cast in the Netherlands in 1624. Later interior changes by Andrew Maitland in 1864 include the removal of the north gallery and east and west galleries partitioned off. An outstanding Pictish cross-slab (see SCHEDULED MONUMENT No 1680) stands within a room at the west end of the church. It formerly lay in the churchyard broken in two pieces and was subsequently re-erected at the east end before being taken inside. The graveyard contains many excellent examples of 17th century funerary monuments including the box tomb of Marie Urquhart & John Grant dating from 1679 and the tomb of Alexander Gair, 1659 which re-uses a 14th/15th-century monument. The Cholera Stone dates from the 1823 cholera epidemic. Two or more grave markers are understood to be of medieval origin. The earliest reference to a church on this site occurs in 1255-6. List description revised, 2012. References First Edition Ordnance Survey Map (The Statistical Account, Xiii, P.17. The New Statistical Account Xiv, (1836) P.36. George Hay, The Architecture Of The Post-Reformation Church In Scotland (1957) pp169, 273. John Gifford, The Buildings of Scotland - Highlands and Islands (1992) p440. Report on the Ecclesiastical Buildings of Nigg 1878 - Heritors Records (HR 361/4 Nigg). Highland Council Historical Environment Record, ID: MHG31396