This absolute little gem, in the Arts & Crafts Gothic style, was designed and built 1898-1900 by aristocratic church architect Robert Thomas Napier Speir of Culdees and Burnbrae and built by local contractor J.M Aitken.  The foundation stone was laid on the 27 August 1898 and the building was officially consecrated by the Rt Rev Arthur Gascoigne Douglas, Episcopal Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney on 26 July 1900.

Pleasingly symmetrical in style, it comprises of a three bay nave, with buttresses dividing each bay, with a porch and vestry on its south and west gables and an attractive semi-circular apse on its north end. Before entering, visitors are greeted by a ship’s bell hanging to the side of the doorway, inscribed “Diligent 1898” and used to call the congregation to worship. Possibly taken from HMS Diligent, which was a Royal Navy Dromedary-class paddle tug, launched in 1898 and broken up after a three decade career in Sunderland in 1923. Exactly how it made its way to Burravoe we do not know, please do get in touch if you know the answer!

Once inside, visitors are treated with a plethora of sights that are testament to woodworkers who really knew their craft.  From the handsome braced kingpost open roof, to the herring-bone patterned panels on each door and vertically-boarded wainscoting in the nave and apse, from the simple timber choir stalls to the similarly simple open backed pine pews. Of particular note is a folding Gothic wooden chair by the eminent firm of William Morris & Co and a well-painted frontispiece on the carved altar, portraying the ‘Worship of Heaven’ with the Agnus Dei depicted in the centre. The windows are leaded and fringed with a coloured glass border and there are a number of memorials around the building.