Building record MHG10901 - St. Andrew's Church, Golspie

See also: NC80SW0151 Graveyard
J Aitken : 12/12/02
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NC80SW 6 8377 0023.
Church (NAT) on site of Church (NR) OS 6"map, (1969)

18th century parish church stands on site of St Andrew's Chapel. St Andrew's Chapel is on record in 1330 and was in use until at least 1556. In 1619 the parish church was transferred from Kilmaly (NH79NE 5) to this site. The present church was built1738 and had an aisle added 1751, but it may embody parts of a simpler building extant in 1650. (See also NC80SW 13.)
R Gordon 1813; Orig Paroch Scot 1855. <1>, <2>

No further information. Visited by OS (J M) 29 October 1975.

ARCHITECT: Kenneth Sutherland, joiner 1738

Mr George Hay states that he has recorded this to some extent.

Photographs were submitted to the HER by participants in a Community Timelines course, run by ARCH in 2010. <3>

Research on the church was carried out by Michael Simpson, a participant in a Community Timelines course, run by ARCH in 2010. The date of building, as the Earl of Sutherland' s Chapel, is not known, but it is mentioned in family records of the thirteenth century. It escaped damage in the sixteenth century religious upheavals. When the existing Parish Church at Culmaily Kirkton became ruinous, it was abandoned and St. Andrew's became the Parish Church in 1619.
St. Andrew/s was in good shape in 1707 and had minor attention in 1731: repairs to the pulpit, a new stool of repentance, an iron stand for the hourglass (made By John Innes, the Dunrobin gunsmith) and new dykes for the kirkyard. However, structural problems had developed by 1736.
The attached document outlines the development of the church in the 18th-20th centuries. <4>