Tarbat Old Church Churchyard is a Grade A listed building in the Highland local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 27 March 1971.

Tarbat Old Church Churchyard

WRENN ID
final-iron-holly
Grade
A
Local Planning Authority
Highland
Constituency
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP: Jamie Stone (LD)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
27 March 1971
OS grid reference
NH 915 840
Coordinates
57.83263, -3.82879
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Tarbat Old Church in Portmahomack dates back to 1756, incorporating some earlier work. It underwent alterations and repairs by Andrew Maitland in 1864, partial re-seating by Alexander Annandale of Invergordon in 1891, and further alterations by A Maitland and Sons in 1921. The church has a long, low T-plan design, harled with painted tooler margins, and is oriented east/west with an aisle to the north. The fenestration is slightly irregular, featuring three long windows in the center of the south elevation and a small off-center minister's porch with a piended roof. There are gallery doors accessed by flights of steps in the outer bays, with a similar flight at the rear. The windows mainly have 4-pane glazing. At the apex of the west gable is a square, stumpy ashlar belfry topped with an ashlar ogee roof, which includes diminutive lucarnes and a stone finial. Each face of the belfry has a long rectangular opening with moulded jambs and moulded cornices above and below. The roof is slate with a stone ridge.

Inside, the rear gallery is now blocked, and the interior has been re-cast and refurbished. The burial ground is enclosed by a dry stone wall and contains some fine tombstones and memorials dating from the late 17th century onwards.

Local climate

Tarbat Old Church Churchyard receives an average of 870 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 62% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 79% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 40 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 78% of listed buildings. Of these, 27 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.2°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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Nearby listed buildings

  1. Tarbat Old Church, Portmahomack Grade A 21 m
  2. Sanfield, Portmahomack Grade C 132 m
  3. Tarbat Free Church Of Scotland Church, Portmahomack Grade C 179 m
  4. Tarbat Free Church Of Scotland Manse, Portmahomack Grade C 245 m
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  6. Fountain, Main Street, Portmahomack Grade B 536 m
  7. Harbour, Harbour Street, Portmahomack Grade B 558 m
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