A simple rectangular “Parliamentary Church“, one of 32 churches built with a grant from the UK parliament, following the Church of Scotland Act of 1824, in a scheme overseen by the noted Scottish civil engineer Thomas Telford.

It opened in 1829 and was built, of local stone with a slate roof, to the design of surveyor William Thomson. Most “Telford Kirks” are T-plan, but Acharacle is one of the smaller type, constructed without a rear wing.

With a striking stone bellcote topping its gable apex, it has arched windows in its walls, containing their original cast-iron frames with centre mullions, Y-tracery and lattice-pane glazing.  The plain, whitewashed interior, with its wooden pews, was substantially re-ordered in 1912 by Peter MacGregor Chalmers, when the focus was changed from the pulpit on the centre of the south wall to the communion table at the east end.

After some local debate about the form of a memorial to commemorate the local fallen of World War One, the castellated gates into the burial ground were erected in 1924 to serve as the parish’s war memorial, later including the sacrifice of those local individuals that gave their lives during World War Two.