Kingussie Parish Church Scottish Charity No. SC021546

History

The history of the Church in Kingussie is set out in a short book written by local historian John Robertson at our request, when renovation work was underway in 2007, a second edition of this book is now available - see below.

Our present Church was brought about in the nineteen sixties by a union of St Columba’s Parish Church and St Andrew’s Parish Church. At that time the congregation chose to worship in St Columba’s Church building, and renovated St Andrew’s Church to be a suite of halls. St Andrew’s building is now Talla nan Ros, Kingussie’s village hall.

St Columba’s Church – the current Kingussie Parish Church- was built in the late 18th century on the top of a glacial mound at the east end of Kingussie. It had to be rebuilt in the nineteen twenties when a fire destroyed most of the building. This mound on which it is built is known as “Tom a’ Mhoid”, the Mound of the Court, and is the same location where in the fourteenth century the Wolf of Badenoch held his court. It is said that there was a circle of standing stones there, and the court was held in the centre of that circle.

The “Church” in Kingussie has met in various locations over the centuries, including a very old building no longer there but which was –according to a stone in St Columba’s graveyard, Mill Road, Kingussie -“dedicated to St Columba and according to tradition planted by himself” and a later Carmelite monastery built on or near the same place. As John Robertson says in his book, “There is clear evidence that he (Columba) was in Inverness but we will never know if it was his monks who started a Church in Kingussie, or if he made a personal appearance. What we do know is that Kingussie has been a place of worship ever since.” (From “The Court on the Mound” a Brief History of Kingussie Parish Church by John Robertson.)

In 2007 the church building was renovated to bring it up to standard for the Disability Discrimination Act. It now includes a kitchen and accessible toilet facilities, and also a small Hall/Meeting room at the entrance to the building.

Kingussie’s memorials for the First World War which were in the then United Free Church and St Columba’s Parish Church, are now situated within the Kingussie Parish Church building. They are a beautiful stained glass window sited in the gable wall above the Communion Table, and two wall plaques placed nearby.

In 2008 the parish boundaries were re-drawn to admit Insh Village to the Parish.

The Mound of the Court

A brief history of Kingussie Parish Church

Second Edition

Available from the Paper Shop £4