Page 20 - LOTN Summer Issue 47 2021

FAITH AND CULTURE

Churches of the

Diocese of Aberdeen

The facade of the church at Preshome

cattle court probably replaces agricultural buildings of
some earlier date, but that is conjecture.
Then we see a handsome, simple two storey house, home
The Church of Saint to Bishop Kyle from where he administered the Vicariate of
the Northern District of the Catholic Church until his death
in 1869. Closely related to the house is the church with an
Gregory, Preshome orchard planted in the land between the church and the
road. The whole precinct is surrounded by a handsome
stone wall. Approached from the east the church is quite
Under the aegis of Archbishop Emeritus Mario Conti we ordinary although the change in architectural style
continue our series celebrating the rich variety of church between church and apse signals the different times of
buildings in the Diocese. The Church of St Gregory, Preshome, the building of these elements; the windows to the apse
featured in this issue, was built in 1788 and was the first church are Romanesque in style while the windows to the church
building to be openly built by Catholics in Scotland since the are round headed multi-paned sash and case. Approached
Reformation of 1560. The following article is based on the from the west, however, we have quite a different effect
scale drawings and text of architect Oliver R. Humphries FRIAS with the west facade built in a style with strong Spanish
and the line drawings of Professor John R. Hume, a talented references. Again round-headed windows and doors
illustrator, historian and architectural expert. punctuate the facade, the central bay with scalloped gable,
surmounted by tight pediment with cross over and flanked
north and south by square pavilions with slated roof.
BY OLIVER R HUMPHRIES FRIAS AND
PROFESSOR JOHN R HUME The mixture of architectural styles is amazing and yet

The Church and Site

he coastal fringe of good, flat, arable land at
Buckie is narrow, perhaps a mile wide before
it starts to rise in folds to the height of the
TEnzie Braes which separate the Huntly, Keith,
Fochabers valley from the coastal strip. The Enzie Braes
are not particularly high but they form a substantial
physical barrier particularly in times past. In the first
folds of the hills before the land rises again towards the
higher ground, we find the Church of Saint Gregory on
the road from the flat coastal lands from Tynet, through
the village of Clochan to Keith.
It was here, therefore, in this discreet spot that Father
John Reid, the priest then in charge of the Eastern Enzie
area decided to build the new church. The year was 1788.
The dedication of the Church to Saint Gregory the Great
came later, after the last Earl of Findlater gifted a painting
of the Saint by Annibale Carracci. Approaching from the
east we are first aware of an old mill (recently converted
to a house) and a large modern cattle court. The modern Line drawing of St Gregory's, Preshome by John Hume

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