St. Columba’s

Parish of Boat of Garten and Kincardine
Rev David Whyte, the Manse, Boat of Garten,
Inverness-shire,
PH24 3BN
Tel: 01479 831252

When the railway came in the mid 19th century there was no church in Boat of Garten. Worshippers went to either Kincardine or Duthil. Because of the distances to the other churches and the burgeoning population of the village it became the practice towards the end of the 19th century to hold services of an evening in the local school, the waiting room of the railway on a so-called Missionary basis - i.e an outpost of the established church of Duthil.

In 1881 a number of local worthies - notably the Minister of Duthil, the Missionary Minister, the Stationmaster, the Postmaster and the Station Hotel Keeper approached the Seafied Estates with a petition for the establishment of a Missionary Station and the building of a place for it. Money had already been promised by the Church of Scotland.

For some reason nothing happened until the end of the century when records show that a feu charter had been granted by the estate and in summer 1900 the church was finished at a cost of some £820.OO.

Kincardine was joined to Boat in 1911 - the whole still on a missionary basis from Duthil. The United Free Church who had been using the village hall (built at the turn of the century), joined the Church of Scotland in 1929 - thus strengthening the church and its usage and its independence - although the church only became independent in 1931.

Shortly after that, in 1932 and in some ways to celebrate this authorised permanent status the Manse was built. In 1934 the Church Hall was added and it remains one of the focuses of village life.