Saint John's Church And Chapel Well, Longside

Saint John’s Church is an early pointed, 1853, ecclesiastical building designed by William Hay. It was built of squared granite rubble with contrasting ashlar detailing and is in continuous use as a church. The church comprises a four-bay nave with a low, lean-to vestry (harthex) on the southwest side, a clerestory with alternating single and double windows, a central tower with lean-to aisles (without transepts), a short chancel, and a southwest porch. The tower features belfry stage windows of two lights and a crowstepped saddleback roof. An octagonal stair turret rises halfway up the middle stage of the tower. The eastern end of the chancel has three stepped lancet windows.

Inside, the nave is characterised by square piers with stop-chamfered spine beams and run-out stops, and arches which have chamfers dying to a square at the springing. The church includes a plain sedilia and a rich reredos consisting of five cusped and gabled lancets with sculpture illustrating the life of Christ, added in 1875.

William Hay designed the church during a brief visit to his mother in Peterhead, following practice in Montreal and Chicago. He later returned to North America, where he practised primarily in Toronto and Bermuda until 1864 when he settled in Edinburgh.