Kyle of Sutherland Heritage Society

The “Old Church” (now the Heritage Centre)

The church of Kincardine was dedicated to St. Columba. It was part of the Chapter of Fortrose Cathedral. It is first mentioned in 1227.

In 1778 Admiral Sir John Ross, of Balnagown, Bart., gifted a bell captured from a French Man of War to the parish. 

Up to the late 1790s the building was thatched with heather. According to local folklore, a flock of starlings nesting in the thatch disrupted the service and the Beadle, in an attempt to scare off the birds, discharged a musket into the roof. It appeared to have the desired effect but unfortunately it also set the roof on fire, destroying the building and the parish records which were kept there. Mr Gallie (the minister) rebuilt the church on the same site. His initials and the date 1799 are carved above the lintel of the main door.

The Building was the centre of Church of Scotland Parish Worship until 1947 when the Union of the Parish Churches of Kincardine and Croick with the United Free Church of Kincardine and worship was transferred (along with the Bell) to Kincardine West Church (formally the United Free Church) in Ardgay.

In 1993 the Kyle of Sutherland Heritage Society acquired the “B” listed building from the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland and with the assistance of Sutherland District Council converted it into a Heritage Centre.