Gordon Episcopal Chapel And Parsonage, Fochabers

Gordon Episcopal Chapel and Parsonage in Fochabers is a two-tier Gothic church built between 1832 and 1834 by Archibald Sipson, with later additions and alterations by Alexander Ross in 1874. The building combines a former school on the ground floor with a chapel on the first floor. It is oriented north-south, with the south entrance gable facing Castle Street. The entrance gable is made of tooled ashlar, while the flanks are harled, featuring tooled and polished ashlar dressings.

The austere south gable has a round-headed entrance at the center, flanked by simple nookshafts and moulded reveals. Above the entrance is a triple light pointed-headed window, linked by a cill course and a continuous hoodmould. The gable is supported by square clasping buttresses with blind slits, which terminate in octagonal gablets with detailed pinnacles and stiff-leaf finials. A projecting two-storey stair wing was added to the west in 1874.

On the north gable, there is a triple light window on the first floor, with a rose window above, also from 1874. The roofs are slate-covered. The entrance to Gordon Chapel House is located on the west elevation, which features varied glazing in its windows, and there is a single-storey wing at the northeast with a piended roof.

Inside the chapel, there is an entrance lobby that includes a mural memorial dated 1838. Stairs, installed in 1874, lead to the chapel, which was largely redesigned and refurnished during that year. The flat ceiling was removed and replaced by a hammer-beam roof. The interior features a pine dado, pews, and a pulpit, along with a brass communion rail and a richly stencilled north chancel wall.

The stained glass windows were made by Morris and Co, with some designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. The east window depicts the crucifixion and likely dates from 1874, while the west wall has two windows and the east wall has three windows depicting St Cecilia (1879), St Ursula (1887), Archangel Raphael (1902), Christ the Good Shepherd (1903), and St Michael (1914). There are also later 19th-century decorative brass wall light brackets. A grey-white oval marble font with swagged and panelled sides is supported by a slender stem on a plinth, possibly reused from another location.