Braemar Parish Church, Clunie Bank Road, Braemar

Braemar Parish Church is a Gothic cruciform church dated 1869, built in response to the Church of Scotland Disruption of 1843 which created the Free Church congregation. The building stands on Clunie Bank Road in Braemar and remains in active ecclesiastical use as the parish church.

The church is constructed of snecked granite rubble with contrasting ashlar dressings and a base course, with buttressing throughout. It comprises a main body with transepts, an apse, a baptistery, and a prominent northeast corner tower. The tower is two storeys with a broached spire topped with a coronet and weathervane, forming a notable village landmark. The building is roofed in grey slate with small gablet ventilators near the ridge.

The north elevation features a low gabled projection with triple lancet windows and a star window in the apex, topped with a decorative finial. A tall gabled transept to the east has triple cusped lancets and another star window above. The south elevation mirrors the north, but with a curved baptistery projection on the left. The west elevation has a gabled porch with a pointed arch boarded door and decorative ironmongery, flanked by lancets with a multifoil window above, and decorative masonry finials to the gable apex.

The tower at the northeast corner has lancets to the tall first stage and louvred lights to the belfry stage with angled margins and angled pinnacles. Gabled clock panels sit at the base of the spire on each face.

The exterior features a trefoil headed opening, diamond glazing pattern throughout, and stained glass to the apse with red painted glass surrounds elsewhere. Cast iron rainwater goods with dated hoppers demonstrate the building's importance to the community.

The interior presents a restrained ecclesiastical space with the body of the church painted and featuring a large gothic arch leading to the apse. The ceiling is timber hammerbeam, springing from stone corbels. Polished marble columns support double pointed arches to the transepts. The church retains timber pews, a prominent carved pulpit within the apse, and a carved oak communion table.

The church was built under the direction of Minister Hugh Cobham, who died on the eve of its completion and is buried behind the pulpit. The architect is reputedly R Lamb from Darlington, though no records of this architect are extant. The building replaced a previous structure dating from 1845, which was removed and rebuilt in Aberarder.

The church's location in Auchendryne is historically unusual, as this area was traditionally the Catholic quarter of Braemar. The existence of this Free Church building alongside the parish church constructed in 1830 reflects the denominational divisions of the Disruption. Although the Free Church and the Church of Scotland reunited in 1929, the two Braemar congregations did not merge into a single building until 1945.