Church Of Scotland, Bridge Street, Halkirk

This is a rectangular Church of Scotland building, constructed in 1886 by Alexander Ross of Inverness. It is orientated east/west. The west gable features an Italian Romanesque facade, constructed with tooled coursed rubble, contrasted by polished ashlar dressings and long and short detailing. A slightly advanced centre bay to the west gable contains a large wheel window, serving a gallery, set within a round-headed recess with short nook shafts and stiff-leaf capitals. A band course runs across the facade, continuing to the window on the right at impost level. Beneath the central window is a low, arcaded tripartite with stumpy engaged columns and scalloped capitals. A square tower sits to the left, rising one stage above balustraded and pilastered round-headed arches on each face. It has deep eaves, a pyramidal slate roof, and a weathervane at the apex. A round-headed entrance, in a channelled ashlar base, features a carved Free Church insignia in the tympanum, a double leaf plank door with ornate cast-iron hinges, and a pair of louvred slit lancets above; a battered base-course is also present. The flanks are simple six-bay structures with round-headed windows, and a wheel window is central to the east gable. A ball finial sits at the west apex, a coped stack is present, and the roof is slate-covered. A modern harled addition has been made to the rear.

Inside, the original fittings remain, including a panelled gallery at the west end, a braced timber roof supported by cast-iron columns, and a raised Minister’s desk at the east end with curved detailing to the stairs and a balustraded front. The building is surrounded by a pair of square ashlar gate piers, topped with pyramidal caps, and linked by a low retaining wall constructed of coursed rubble with cast-iron spearhead railings matching the double gates. This is an ecclesiastical building, currently in use as such, and was formerly a Free Church of Scotland. The tower was not completed at the time of the building’s opening.