St Mary’s Episcopal Church
Attribution: unknown or not recorded
St Mary’s Episcopal Church
Before 1835 there was an Episcopal Church closer to the village, situated in the trees across the road from Broomhill farm, just beyond the Free Church. It was later converted into a house and named Ord Cottage. Sadly, the documents pertaining to this church were destroyed in a fire at Highfield House in 1875 so much of what I have found has come from the newspapers.
In 1835 an advert for contractors was published in many local papers to erect an Episcopal Chapel to house a congregation of 200. The plans had been drawn up by Mr Robertson, Architect, Elgin and were displayed at Highfield House. The building was completed in 1836. One of the biggest benefactors of the chapel were the Gillanders at Highfield and in 1882, following the death of James Falconer Gillanders, 3rd of Highfield, his family had a stained-glass window commissioned in his memory. The design was of two elaborate ‘lights’ and was supplied by Hodkinson & Clarke of Birmingham. Another window was put in place at the same time, by the grand children of Barbara Gillanders who had died in 1809.
The building underwent further maintenance in 1912 where the old plaster ceiling was replaced with a wood, stained and varnished. Mrs Gillanders, senior, generously paid for the work.
The building is now known as Highfiled House and is currently (2024) being used as a holiday home business for Highland golf tours.
Rev Francis H. Mackenzie
Rev Francis H. Mackenzie was born around 1827 in the Nether Lochaber area and was the nephew of Arch Deacon Duncan Mackenzie. He received his early education at Fortrose Academy, after which he graduated from Aberdeen University. He was ordained at Rothesay, by the Bishop of Argyll in 1849 before taking on his first charge was St Mary’s at Highfield, where he was much respected. Following his first charge he set out for Canada where he preached for many years in Glenelg, Mountair, before returning to Inverness and finally Fortrose where he remained for over the last fourteen years of his life. He died in 1896, aged sixty-nine years of age. At the time of his tenure, the church was St Mary’s, Highfield. It wasn’t until around 1862 that it joined with St John’s at Arperfeelie.
By 1888, St John’s Arpafeelie ad St Mary’s, Highfield 1888 were the two oldest Gaelic charges in the Diocese of Moray & Ross.
Rev Farquhar Smith 1862-1878.
Records suggest Farquhar was born in either 1834 or 1835, with census records suggesting he was born in the Daviot & Dunlichty area of Inverness-shire. However, the names of his parents do not match any of couples who had a child born in Scotland at this time. He was married at Fraserburgh in 1856 to married Elizabeth Chalmers Cardno with the marriage being solemnised by Rev. Charles Pressley. A name of some relevance to the couple as they named their first son after him.
At the time of his marriage, he was recorded as being a schoolmaster. He was pastor at St John’s, Arpafeelie and St Mary’s, Highfield from 1862 until his death in 1878, aged 44 years. Following his death the congregation arranged for the east window at St John’s, to be filled with a stained-glass window, depicting ‘The Crucifixtion’ in his memory.
His son, Charles Pressley Smith, followed his father into the church and was curate of Edinburgh cathedral in1885.
Rev. Dugald MacColl 1883-1888
Rev. Dugald MacColl was born in 1842 at Lismore, Appin and Duror in Argyll. He grew up on the Island of Eriska at Ardchattan with his grandparent and in 1861, he was working as a clerk in Glasgow.
He came to the Arparfeelie and Highfield charges around 1883 before moving to St Anne’s at Dunbar in 1888. Dugald died in 1909 whilst serving as the pastor to St Olaf’s Church Dunbar.
Rev. Angus Cameron, 1888 – 1905
Rev. Angus Cameron was a native of Ballachullish where he was ordained in 1882 at St John’s Church, by the Bishop of Argyll. He remained at St John’s as assistant curate until 1884 when he became Diocese supernumerary before being appointed to the curacy of St Bride’s, Lochaber in 1886. His tenure, was at Arpafeelie and Highfield where he moved to in 1888 until the turn of the century when he was once again appointed back to Ballachullish until 1905.
His next charge was St Andrew’s Episcopal Church at Tain before being appointed a Canon of St Andrew’s Cathedral, Inverness in 1932. Angus took a deep and active interest in Tain affairs and served for period on the Town Council. He was also chaplain to St Duthus Freemasons and Oddfellows and served as temporary chaplain to the forces in 1919.
He died in 1935.
Rev. Herbert Dransfield (1901-1918)
Rev. Herbert Dransfield was born in 1869 at Snaith, Yorkshire.
In 1901 he was an assistant priest at St Andrews Cathedral, Inverness where he had been for around 15 months, when he was appointed as rector of Arpafeelie and Highfield. That same year he married Marie Edith Manners of Inverness, she was his second wife. During WW1, he stood in as a temporary scoutmaster to the Scout troop at Old Allangrange, teaching himself signalling and Morse code. He was described as a gentleman who in his own unostentatious way took a deep interest in the young folks of the community. In 1916, he was himself doing his but for the war effort as a chaplain with the British Expeditionary Forces, returning to Arpafeelie in 1918.
The newspaper report on his death in 1920, states that he had come to Inverness from Canada.
Rev. W.J. Montgomery 1921- unknown.
The Rev. Montgomery received his training at the Episcopal Theological College in Edinburgh and served as a curate in Dover before being inducted by the Bishop of the diocese to the living of St John’s, Arpafeelie with St Mary’s, Highfield, Ross-shire, near Inverness in 1921. He was then appointed to serve in the Glasgow Episcopal Diocese before moving to St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Airdrie in 1927.
Rev. Ivan Mavor circa 1951 – 1967
Rev. Ivan Mavor was born at Dingwall in 1887 and was the son of Ivan Mavor, a marine engineer, shipbuilder and Naval architect. His mother was Annie Macrae. Ivan’s father died in 1886 and by 1901 he was living in Middlesex where his mother was working as a schoolmistress. There are indications to suggest he was educated at St Paul’s School, London where he later became the school chaplain and assistant master in the early 1920’s. After the WW2 he was the local vicar at Gayton in Northamptonshire where his mother also lived with him. Annie died in 1949 and the following year Ivan left the area and returned to Scotland. Between 1951 and 1974 he was a regular visiting priest to the Episcopal church at Brora and it is believed that he lived in the tiny octagonal vestry attached to the Church at Highfield. He believed that an idle retirement was nonsense and felt he still had much work to do as a clergyman.
He died at Ross memorial in 1967, his home address at that time was Marybank.
The church closed following his death.
The Mystery of the Forgotten Grave – 1977
The church closed or stopped being used on a regular basis around 1964 and by 1977 had been targeted by vandals. The feu of the ground surrounding the church still belonged to the Mackenzie-Gillander family who gifted it to the church as they were proposing using the building as a possible youth centre or hall. During this process, the church requested that the family crypt be closed making it necessary to disinter the ancestral resting place of the Mackenzie-Gillander ancestors, however, the remains of a non-family member were discovered at this time and steps had to be taken to find any remaining relatives to seek permission to disinter her remains.
Beneath a simple marble cross, in the grounds of the church, lay the grave of Beatrice Forrest with the inscription: died 10th March 1878 at Kindeace. All that was known about Beatrice was that she had been the housekeeper at Kindeace House at Fortrose, the home of distant relatives to the Mackenzie-Gillanders. Mrs Mackenzie-Gillander also believed that Beatrice had been housekeeper to her grandfather at one point and she thought she may have been English. From the inscription, they didn’t even know whether Beatrice had been married or not. An appeal was made by the church solicitors and after two months no family could be found. Beatrice was finally laid to rest with the Mackenzie-Gillander ancestors.
So, who was Beatrice Forrest?
Her death records record her death on the 8th of March 1878 at Highfield Cottage. She was 85 years of age, single and had been a Domestic Housekeeper. The informant of her death was John MacGillivray, a teacher at Highfield school. It appears she may have been illegitimate as her father is documented as being ‘reputed father’. Census records of 1861 and 1871 suggest she was from Old Machar, Aberdeenshire, however birth records around 1793 have proven difficult to find. Had she indeed been illegitimate, her birth may not have been recorded or was perhaps recorded under her mother’s name.
Her will suggests that she had a close relationship with Mrs Margaret Amy Robertson, who had married James Falconer Gillanders, fourth son of John Gillanders (3rd of Highfield) and father of George Francis Gillanders. The Robertson family were the Robertsons of Kindeace, Fortrose where Beatrice had been housekeeper. The 1871 census for Highfield House records James and Margaret as head of the household and his wife. Beatrice, although listed with the staff at the property, was recorded as a visitor. She had obviously a loyal servant and certainly held some affection with Mrs Margaret Amy Gillanders (Robertson).
By 1978, permission had been granted to convert the chapel into a house. The house now goes by the name of Highfield House and is holiday accommodation.