Loth Parish Church, Lothmore

The Loth Parish Church, built in 1822, is based on Kintore Church in Aberdeen, designed by Archibald Simpson. The church was commissioned by the Countess of Sutherland, following correspondence where James Loch indicated that the design was “taken as your Ladyship directed, from the one at Mintore.” It is a rectangular Gothic structure built of coursed stugged ashlar, with tooled ashlar dressings and rusticated quoins.

The west gable features a wide, advanced centre bay with a hoodmoulded entrance and a dated plaque above. A hoodmoulded gallery window with simple Perpendicular tracery is also present, along with diagonal buttresses topped by crocketted pinnacles with stiff leaf finials, and a similarly detailed apex bell-cote. The north and south elevations have three large Gothic windows mirroring the west gable details. The east gable has a barely advanced centre bay with long, paired windows of Perpendicular tracery, flanked by small, pointed-headed entrances that are blind on the north side. An apex oculus in the shape of a quatrefoil is visible, along with a saltire apex finial, and single round finials with saltire detailing on the east flat skews. A moulded eaves cornice runs along the north and south wallheads, returning onto the gables. The windows have lattice glazing, and the roof is clad in slate.

Inside, the church retains its original fittings, including a three-sided gallery with Gothic detailing to the front panelling, supported by clustered cast-iron columns. Several mural memorial plaques are present, including some dedicated to the Pope family of Navidale. A ceiling has been inserted at gallery level, obscuring a hexagonal wooden sounding board that remains in situ above the pulpit. The ceiling is painted in delicate shades of mushroom pale yellow and white. Decorative bands of plaster frieze, divided by simple string courses, adorn the deep cornice, featuring a row of vine leaves and a row of palmette designs. An urn finial is also present. A cusped panelled pulpit is flanked by stairs, and the church contains pews dating back to 1822, including a long box pew with a central communion table. The church is no longer in ecclesiastical use. A former church site and old burial ground lie just below the present church, with a modern burial ground to the east.

The parish of Loth encompassed Helmsdale and Navidale, which were transferred to Kildonan Parish in 1841. A plaque above the door reads: IMPENSIS NOBILISSIN GEORGII GRANVILLII LEVESON GOWER STAFFORDIENSIS COMITATUS MARCHIONI ET NOBILISSIME ELIZABETHAE SUTHERLAND EUJUSDE COMTATU MARCHIONE-SSAE SUTHERLANDIAE COMITISSAE. ANNO MDCCCXXII. The church was built at a cost of £1,504.2s.3d. and was described around 1858 as “a modern, handsome and commodious edifice.”