Churches ⋆ Ross and Cromarty Heritage

Dingwall Churches

Attribution: unknown (Greenhill street in Dingwall looking North)

Castle Street Church of Scotland

The Castle Street Church of Scotland is situated in Castle Street opposite the National Hotel. Built in 1909 as the United Free Church (a result of the Union of Free and United Presbyterian Churches in 1900), the architect was William Mackintosh.

Attribution: unknown

St Clement's Church of Scotland

This, the parish church of Dingwall, was completed in 1803, the previous building having fallen into a state “unworthy of repair.”

Attribution: unknown

The Free Church of Scotland

The Free Church is situated opposite the railway station. Built in 1870 to replace the old Free Church in Castle Street. The architect was John Rhind, and the church is built in French Gothic style, although the octagonal dome on the spire is extremely uncommon in Gothic buildings. The church will seat 1,000 people comfortably, and was opened by the famous London preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a good friend of the first minister, the well-known Rev. John Kennedy. The building has long been admired for its beautiful interior, and particularly for its magnificent 16 foot high, stained glass ‘rose window’. A new hall was built at the rear in 1987. The congregational list includes around 180 homes, and services are held twice on Sunday with a weekly Prayer Meeting and Bible Study, as well as other meetings designed for the different age groups in the congregation.

Attribution: unknown

The Free Presbyterian Church

The Free Presbyterian Church is situated in Hill Street. Built in 1959, the architect was J. Lyon of Matheson and Mackenzie. It is a harled buttress box with rubble gable, it replaced the original 1904 church (now Kirkholm) in Greenhill Street. The interior of the church is deliberately austere in keeping with the early reformed church tradition. Seating capacity – 350.

Attribution: unknown

The Scottish Episcopal Church

The Episcopal Church is situated in Castle street. The Episcopalians have worshipped in the town since the Sixteenth Century, first at St. Clements and later in private houses until the first chapel was built in Castle Street in 1806. The present building, with a capacity of 128, is the fourth to be built on the site. Erected in 1871 it is of simple and sturdy gothic design, consisting of a three-bay nave with lower one-bay nave. There are stained glass windows on four walls. An organ was installed in 1872 and there is a small choir. The parish stretches from the Black Isle to Achnasheen. The Davidson Mausoleum (to the right of the church) has been located elsewhere, the hall behind the mausoleum was demolished and a new hall erected in 2005.

Attribution: unknown

St. Lawrence's Roman Catholic Church

Opened 1902. The architect was William C. Jones. It was built in plain Gothic style. Above the altar there are three stained glass windows by Dom Ninian Sloane O.S.B., of Pluscarden Abbey. The Church has been refurbished.

Attribution: unknown

Cille Bhrea Chapel

Lemlair, Dingwall. [NH. 576614 – Nat. grid ref.]

The information given below, and the associated photograph, is taken from notes provided by AOC Archaeology Group, with additional details by the unknown “T.W.”

Cille Bhrea, on the north shore of the Cromarty Firth, was established by 1228 as the parish church of Lemlair and continued in use until the early 17th century. A cross inscribed slab was recovered from the foreshore and, although of uncertain date, it may suggest an earlier origin for the Christian use of the site. During the life of this parish church it became famous as the first place in Easter Ross where the Reformed Doctrine was preached by Dr. Munro of Castlecraig, who crossed the Cromarty Firth to do so. After the abandonment of the chapel in the early 17th century, the graveyard was used intermittently during the 18th and 19th centuries, with the most recent burials being from a cholera outbreak in 1836.

Attribution: AOC Archaeology Group

View more photos of the Dingwall Churches

Click on photo album to view thumbnails and then click thumbnail to see the full size images

Dingwall » Dingwall Folk

01 4th Seaforth Highlanders

4th Seaforths embarking at Dingwall Station 1914.

Alexander M Brett

Plaque in memory of Alexander Brett located on entrance wall to St Clement's Church.

18 Bridgend Engineering, Dingwall [Photo courtesy of Mrs Jessie Sinclair]

Staff c.1940.

22 Dingwall WRVS [Photo Urquhart's Studio and DMT]

WRVS soup kitchen in the Old Academy grounds c.1950 Second left, back row, Mrs Granville Hay. Third left, front row, Mrs Lily Macrae. Others to be listed as they are identified

06 Dingwall Thistle FC 1913-14 [Photo DMT]

02 Dingwall's first Fire Brigade (date unknown). Photo: Dingwall Museum Trust

Alexander Frazer, blacksmith, identified by his grand-daughter, Miss Alexandra Fraser, Edionburgh.

Dingwall folk

Members of Dingwall Museum Trust with WW2 helmets discovered in a cupboard.

09 Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone [Photo DMT]

Dingwall's connection with Mr Gladstone is that his wife was a daughter of Provost Robertson, Bridaig House (many years the hostel of Dingwall Academy pupils from the west coast).

10 Mr and Mrs Gladstone [Photo DMT]

04 Provost Alexander Henderson [Photo DMT]

Alexander Henderson was Provost of Dingwall in 1912. Father of late Melven Henderson.

11 Dingwall YWCA or YMCA picnic

12 June 1918 at Kilmaroch.

16 Dingwall Post Office staff [Photo DMT]

GPO staff 1940s. Jean Macdonald at the back? Molly Frazer (deceased), Craig Road, at right.

17 Dingwall Post Office staff [Photo DMT]

Staff in the 1940s. Molly Frazer centre.

08 Freemason E Stenhouse [Photo DMT]

No date or details.

03 Provost Mitchell [Photo DMT]

Provost Mitchell, donor of the area which became Mitchell Hill cemetery.

21 Dingwall folk [Photo DMT]

l-r: Unknown; Danny Macbeth of "The North Star"; Peter Frazer, New Zealand Prime Minister.

20 Dingwall coach trip [Photo DMT]

Unknown group.

12 Dingwall Post Office [Photo courtesy of Mrs Anne Gordon and DMT]

Date unknown. Second right William Macdonald; third right his son Hector.

07 Dingwall Red Cross nurses 1932-33 [Photo DMT]

Back row l-r: Miss Munro, West End PO; Helma McCallum; Betty Cameron. Front row l-r: Hetty Duff; Lizzie Duff; Lily Macrae (nee Grant).

26 David Macdonald, MA

Plaque adjacent to the obelisk in Cromartie car park.

27 Mr Ian Macleod, Dingwall Museum Trust

Ian Macleod receiving the award of BEM from Lord Lieutenant Mrs Janet Bowen.

19 Dingwall coach trip

A group of Dingwallians in 1948 ready to board a Noble's (Muir of Ord) coach for their annual summer outing. ( l-r: ? Mrs Granville Hay ???? Alexander Ferguson, Mrs Christina Ogg, ?

25 Neil McKecnhie, MBE, MA, Dip.Ed. 1919-2014

Head Teacher of Dingwall Primary School.

28 PeterAngus, MBE [Photo courtesy of Alasdair Cameron]

Peter Angus receiving the award of MBE from Lord Lieutenant Mrs Janet Bowen.

29 PeterAngus, wife Jennifer and Lord Lieutenant Mrs Janet Bowen [Photo courtesy of Alasdair Cameron]

The award was announced in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2018.

15 Dingwall ploughman [Photo courtesy of The Daily Mirror

This newspaper cutting of 8 January 1935 reads: "A contestant during an interval at a ploughing match held at Humberston Farm, Dingwall, Ross-shire. Almost springlike weather prevailed."

05 Provost Robert ("Bob") Macleod

Photo source unknown.

24 Rev Alexander Glass

At Buckingham Palace 1993 for award of OBE.

23 Rev Alexander Glass, OBE, MA, Dip.Ed.

Rector of Dingwall Academy

13 Tommy Wilson [Photo courtesy of Roy Wilson]

Tommy Wilson came to Dingwall in the 1930s as a tap dance and rollerblade instructor. He gained the name of "Tommy the Rink". Later he became the projector operator at The Picture House and, when it closed, a telephone switchboard operator with the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board in their office based at the foot of Church Street.