Burial Ground, St Andrew's Parish Church, Main Street, Golspie

The burial ground and church of St Andrew’s Parish Church, located on Main Street in Golspie, dates primarily from 1736-7, though it stands on the site of an earlier chapel dedicated to St Andrew. The church is cruciform in layout. The main body of the church runs east to west and incorporates a contemporary Sutherland north aisle and a later south aisle constructed in 1754. The exterior is harled with ashlar margins. There is a small square porch masking the entrance situated in the southeast re-entrant angle. The south elevation features small ground and gallery windows, while the south gable has paired long windows and a central small window. Long windows illuminate the gallery in both the east and west gables. A forestair provides access to the north aisle from the east elevation, accompanied by two ground-floor and three first-floor windows on the west elevation. An apex stack is present, displaying a moulded cornice and string course. The roof is steeply pitched with slate tiles, a stone ridge, and flat skews. Multi-pane glazing is used throughout. A ball-finialled bellcote is situated at the apex of the west gable.

Inside, the north aisle is entirely filled by the Sutherland laird's loft, which includes a rear retiring room. The loft's interior and front are panelled, featuring an enriched entablature dated 1739, supported by Corinthian columns. The space also contains a panelled ducal pew and a coved ceiling – all crafted by Kenneth Sutherland, the joiner at Dunrobin. An imposing panelled pulpit, also by Sutherland and dated 1738, is located at the angle of the south and west aisles (and subsequently moved to this position in 1752). It has an Ionic pilastered backboard with a keyblocked blind inner arch, and a hexagonal sounding board with an ornate moulded cornice. Galleries are present in the east and west aisles, with panelled fronts likely stepped into their present form around 1849. The interior walls are simply plastered, with some mural tablets. Plain grey painted panelled pews, closely resembling designs by George Hay from 1954, line the floor of stone flags. A bell, first founded in 1696 and re-founded in 1728 by Robert Maxwell of Edinburgh, is inscribed with details of its origin.

The burial ground is enclosed by a coped coursed rubble wall, which contains a memorial to the Gordons of Carroll erected in 1883, alongside various tombstone of interest dating from the late 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Several tombstones were relocated within the burial ground after the realignment of the A9 road in 1982-3, which necessitated rebuilding the surrounding rubble wall. The church remains in ecclesiastical use. Historical records indicate a visit in 1736 by representatives of the Presbytery found the church in a dangerous condition, leading to enlargement and the addition of the north aisle; an estimated cost of £169.1s3d included the pulpit. Earl William supervised the work, and fixed seating was provided. Structural faults prompted construction of the south aisle as a buttress and, while the exterior stone is dated 1754, the work was finished by 1752.