Burial Ground, Roman Catholic Church Of The Incarnation, Tombae

The Roman Catholic Church of the Incarnation at Tombae is a Gothic-style church built between 1827 and 1829, with significant interior alterations and completion work undertaken between 1843 and 1844. The church is situated within a burial ground and is oriented approximately east to west, with the main entrance in the west-facing gabled front. Constructed primarily of tooled pink granite ashlar for the front facade and dressings, with harl and pointed flanks and rear, the church's unusual design incorporates priest's quarters under the same roof.

The west front features three bays delineated by stepped buttresses surmounted by pinnacles, with a crenellated wallhead. A pointed-headed recessed entrance is centrally positioned, adorned with a blank datestone above, flanked by narrow two-light windows and a three-light window above the door. These windows all incorporate simple wooden tracery and lattice-pane glazing. The side elevations, each also with three bays, echo the west front’s window arrangement, although the easternmost window is divided vertically and is partially blind. A simple square-headed doorway is located in the northeast elevation. The east gable mirrors the west's fenestration but lacks buttresses, with a small ground-floor window at the centre. The roof is clad in slate and topped with apex crosses.

Inside, a simple entrance lobby has a local flagstone floor. The lofty, vaulted interior features narrow side aisles with ribbed vaulting supported by timber-panelled cast-iron columns. These columns have decorative plaster capitals and matching corbel stones set into the aisle walls. The altar is located in a shallow chancel, and a west gallery houses the organ with decorated pipes. A space between the chancel and the east gable, formerly used as a Presbytery (accessed by a door in the north elevation), is now empty. The Tomintoul RC Church also features a Presbytery incorporated into the building.

The square burial ground is enclosed by a rubbled stone wall, containing 19th and 20th century tombstones, many featuring finely inscribed local slate. The burial ground wall, constructed in 1843, continues around the west front of the church and includes a wide entrance flanked by simple capped gate piers. A bridge formerly spanned the River Livet opposite the west entrance.

The area had been served by a priest from at least 1745, and a "mass house" was built around 1790; its ruins were marked on a map dating around 1870. This mass house was replaced by the current church, opened for worship in February 1829, though it was unfinished at the time the interior was remodelled and completed in 1843-4. The building is currently in use as an ecclesiastical building.