Whalsay Parish Church
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Kirk_Ness%2C_Whalsay_-_geograph.org.uk_-_100925.jpg/220px-Kirk_Ness%2C_Whalsay_-_geograph.org.uk_-_100925.jpg)
The church, dedicated to the Holy Rood, was within a quoad sacra parish. In 1845, Whalsay Church was reportedly visited by the parish minister eleven times in the year. It was intended that the church to be endowed as a Parliamentary church, but that did not occur. At the time, a new roof was added, and the seating was noted to be uncomfortable. Whalsay Kirk became a Category B listed building in 1974.
Architecture and fittings
This ancient church is located over the North Ness. The kirk is on the site of an earlier church (1733), apparently a simple T-shaped construction with arched doors and a galleried interior. The pulpit probably stood between the central windows of the south wall. The church was remodelled in 1867, in fieldstone with sandstone trimmings, as a galleried hall with a two-storey northern wing. It has a modern grey tile roof. There are four bays on the south wall, two with large highly positioned windows at the centre, flanked by two with smaller windows at a lower level. Projecting cills have been provided over the windows. The round-arched door on the western facade is topped by a polished ashlar bellcote. The north wing, which serves as a vestry, contains a memorial to Alexander Shand. The former doorway on the east wall is topped by a central window dated 1767. The interior is fitted with 19th-century wainscoting, horizontally boarded pews, a gallery, and a panelled pulpit on the north side accessed by stairs.
Grounds
The church is enclosed within a boundary wall which is built in rubble masonry. The walls have a coping in semicircular shape made in concrete. The entrance gate is fitted between pillars. The pillars are also made of cement concrete with pyramidal caps fitted with wrought-iron gate which is embedded with medallions. The kirkyard is a modern wall around the extensions to the north and west. There are war memorials (First and Second World Wars) in the kirkyard.
References
- ^ Wilson, John Maurius. The imperial gazetteer of Scotland: or, Dictionary of Scottish topography, compiled from the most recent authorities, and forming a complete body of Scottish geography, physical, statistical, and historical. Fullarton. p. 495. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
- ^ Scott, Hew; Macdonald, Donald Farquhar (1928). Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ: The Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation (Public domain ed.). Oliver and Boyd. p. 319. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
- ^ Church of Scotland (1890). The Church of Scotland Home and Foreign Mission Record (Public domain ed.). Church of Scotland. pp. 115–. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
- ^ The New Statistical Account of Scotland: Sutherland, Caithness, Orkney, Shetland, General index. Society for the Benefit of the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy, W. Blackwood and Sons. 1845. p. 3. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
- ^ "Whalsay, Kirk Ness, Whalsay Kirk, Including Boundary Walls and Gatepiers, Nesting", British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
- ^ "HU5565 : World War 2 Memorial at Whalsay Kirk", Geograph. Retrieved 5 February 2013.