Cromarty East Church

Cromarty East Church

Cromarty East Church, also sometimes known as the Old Church, lies at the east end of Cromarty's Church Street, the old heart of the town, standing amid a graveyard predominantly of low or horizontal gravestones. At first sight a fairly ordinary Scottish T-plan church, Cromarty East Church provides a nationally important example of the changes that swept across Scotland's churches after the Reformation of 1560.

East End of the Church The Pulpit from the East Gallery East End Memorial to Lieutenant H. Rose Ross

Cromarty East Church continued to share the role of Parish Church with the West Church until 1998, when it was declared surplus to ecclesiastical needs. The church was transferred to the Scottish Redundant Churches Trust (SCRT) who have since worked to reverse the deterioration inevitable in a building thought to be destined for disuse. Problems included widespread damp, not helped by a concrete coat given the church at some point in place of its original, breathable, harling. The Church was an unsuccessful candidate for funds in the BBC's "Restoration" program, but in March 2007 the Heritage Lottery fund agreed to give £641,000 towards a programme of repair that will in total cost some £1.1m: with support also coming from Historic Scotland and through continuing local fundraising.

Decoration Found in the North Loft

Initials On The Poor Loft

West and North Galleries

View from the East Stalls

The plan is to restore the church in stages. The roof and exterior walls will be repaired during 2008. After a gap to allow the structure to dry out once fully watertight, work will start on the interior in 2009, which completion scheduled for 2010. We assume that access may be restricted for at least part of the time while work is underway: though the end result should certainly justify any short term loss of access.

There's been a church here since medieval times, and a grave slab from the 1400s is on display in the west porch. Until 1560 the church, a simple rectangle aligned east-west, would have had an altar at its east end. Today the church is still used for occasional Sunday services in Summer, plus weddings and funerals, and services associated with the Clan Urquhart Gathering.

After the Reformation, preaching became central to the idea of the church service and the whole church was rearranged with this in mind. A pulpit was placed mid way down the south wall, and new windows inserted either side of it. What seating there was (most brought their own stools, or stood) faced in from the two ends of the church.

By the early 1700s the church was bursting at the seams, so the roof was raised to allow a gallery, the Scholars' Loft, to be inserted in the west end. More room was created in 1739 by the addition of the north wing, forming the "T", complete with a gallery known as the Poor Loft. In 1756 the gallery above the east wing, the Laird's Loft was constructed, and the earlier Scholar's Loft above the west wing probably rebuilt. With stalls and table pews being added at ground floor level the church as you see it today has remained substantially unchanged since the 1760s.

A church like this was intended to fulfil a particular purpose: it was intended to ensure that as many people as possible were placed within hearing of the preacher and their attention was focused on him. Pretty or uplifting distractions had no place in the design brief. As a result it can seem a little gloomy and, especially in the stalls under the galleries, claustrophobic. But this is the genuine article and we should all be thankful that it has been preserved to date, and that plans are now properly in hand to allow its continued survival into the future.

View from the North Stalls