Alves Parish Church is a Grade B listed building in the Moray local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 25 April 1989. Church. 3 related planning applications.
Alves Parish Church
- WRENN ID
- vast-spandrel-soot
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- Moray
- Constituency
- Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey MP: Graham Leadbitter (SNP)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 25 April 1989
- Type
- Church
- Address
- Alves Parish Church, IV36 2RB
- OS grid reference
- NJ 125 614
- Coordinates
- 57.63485, -3.46657
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
Alves Parish Church was built in 1845, likely designed by architect John Urquhart from Forres, and underwent extensive interior renovations and the addition of a rear wing by A and W Reid and Melvin in 1878, which is also the date marked on the church. The church has a rectangular shape with a north-facing entrance gable and long three-bay elevations on both the east and west sides. The exterior is finished with harled walls and features tooled and polished ashlar margins and dressings.
The center bay of the north gable projects as a tower, which includes a round-headed entrance leading to a recessed porch. Above this, there is a louvred opening on the second stage and a square open balustraded bellcote topped with shaped angle finials. Flanking the entrance are paired narrow bays defined by shallow margined pilaster strips that clasp the corners and support a simple entablature that returns for one bay. Each side of the porch has two round-headed windows, with two more in the gable head and three similar windows on the east and west elevations. A large wheel window is located in the center of the rear (south) gable. The church features lattice-pane glazing and has a slate roof.
The 1878 addition at the rear is a single-storey, four-bay gabled room constructed of harl pointed rubble with tooled ashlar dressings and 12-pane glazing. It has a ridge stack and a slate roof.
Inside, the church has a galleried interior supported by slender cast-iron columns that rise through the gallery to the ceiling, which is barrel vaulted longitudinally. The gallery has a pine panelled front from 1878 and features a balustraded platform-type pulpit that is accessed by a flight of stairs.
The church houses two bells made by Michael Burgherhys Holland, dated 1637 and 1639, which were removed from the old Alves parish church in 1978 and are now displayed within the church.
The church is enclosed by a simple drystone rubble wall, with an entrance flanked by square gatepiers topped with shallow pyramidal caps, and a pair of cast-iron gates.
Local climate
Alves Parish Church sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 980 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 78% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 71% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 24 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 74% of listed buildings. Of these, 18 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°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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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 3 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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