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Edderton Old Church and Burial Ground

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Edderton Old Church and Burial Ground

Also 17th and 18th century memorials and graveslabs.

The site of Christian Worship for 1200 years with a 9th century Pictish Cross Slab and Scotland's oldest, unaltered church, built in 1743 and one of Scotland's three remaining outdoor Preaching Arks.

08/04/2026

A few small triumphs at the church today in the pouring rain. I spruced up the information board at the gate and put new information in it about Lizzie McDougall's story telling and children's tour of the church Sunday 23rd August 2-4pm. Also phone numbers of church neighbours for visitors to phone if they would like to see round the church when it is not open. So far only two lots of people have used this system in a year... people say they don't want to bother us. We want to be bothered!

Then two Roads Dept Council Workers arrived to replace the missing bolt of the outdoor communion tables that holds the two tables together with a natty little iron clasp. Thanks very much to neighbours, Linda and Ian for supplying sellotape and a smaller 8mm bolt and nut.

The council guys actually found the old bolt in the gravel. And gave me the name of someone who knows how to get permission for repairing gravestones. The gravestone of Rev. Donald Gordon, Edderton's most important minister, who led his congregation out of the new Established church in the centre of Edderton and back to worship, using the preaching ark, in the Burial Ground initially, then in this church. Thanks, guys!

The church will be open Saturday 8th August 2-4.30pm. Four visitors last Saturday, two from Tain and two from Scicily, David's first day on his own - sounds like he did really well.

07/30/2026

The church will be open Saturday 1.30-3.30 1st August for anyone interested in visiting and being shown round the church. Also Edderton Old Church Preservation Trust are putting on a concert of traditional music on Friday evening, 31st July starting at 7pm. Young people from Plockton Music school are playing, plus Ainsley Gilmour and friend on clarsach. Donations welcome. Wild flowers grown on the Lower Hill of Edderton.

07/25/2026

Lovely afternoon with my new assistant, Helen Mackenzie. We showed eight people round the church, a father and daughter from London and his mother from Toronto. Extraordinarily, she lives in the same town outside Toronto where Helen's family settled when they emigrated to Canada. It had a Canadian Indian name which I can't remember, but I'll ask Helen. It’s mizsissaugua, ontario. She has visited the town several times. The Canadian lady chose to visit Edderton because she knew a lot of people from Edderton had emigrated to Canada. I have seen three gravestones in the Burial Ground with towns in Canada on them. Saskatchewan and Saskatoon (and Seemens?). Also a couple from Evanton, one of whom was a Gaelic speaker and helped us unravel a puzzle in the Gaelic Bible, and their mother (and mother in law) from Virginia and a guy who spent his teenage years in Edderton where his parents ran the shop. Also past chairman of 15 years, Robert Wylie, who kindly brought the crocosmia and echinops from his garden. And thanks to neighbour Linda for the vase and cup of tea afterwards! And to Helen - it worked so much better for everyone with two of us. We sold a church guide. £5 from Pipers or Tain or Dornoch Museum or the church.

07/24/2026

The Church will be open tomorrow, Saturday 25th July 2-4.30pm. Detail of Pictish carved horse from Pictish Cross Slab in Burial Ground. Photo taken by my dad, Reay D.G. Clarke many years ago.

07/20/2026

Now you can ring the bell yourselves by playing the video! I had four children and a teenager ringing it on Sunday and it was really interesting how different the sound each child made relative to their strength. This family from Alness have forbears in the graveyard.

07/19/2026

13 visitors to the church this afternoon, including five children who all took a turn at ringing the church bell after learning about the Picts conversion to Christianity as witnessed by the Pictish Cross Slab and about the history of the church yard as the site of Christian worship for 1200 possibly even 1400 years.

This was followed by a visit from a woman who had connections with several families in the Old Burial ground and connections to a number of crofts and families (Mackays and Munros) in Edderton, Rhegoule, Garbad and Lower Rhanich and also Glaick at Ardross. Another of the fathers of one of the families (who was from Alness) also had family (Gallie) buried in the Old Burial Ground.

07/17/2026

The church will be open, Sunday 19th July from 1.30-3.30. All welcome.

07/07/2026

A drawing of the fragment of one of the Pictish stones rediscovered in 1993 by Doug Scott and a friend, drawn by I.G.S. The fragment is in the vestry if anyone wants to see it. Taken from the excellent guide to the church, avaiable for £5.00.

07/06/2026

Not my best photo, but a lady from Germany and a couple from Florida looking at the Gaelic Bible yesterday. The bible was presented to the church in 1860 when Reverend John Gordon was the minister - almost 170 years ago. Much of Edderton, especially the outlying areas like the Hill of Edderton and the area south west if Rhegoule, spoke only Gaelic up until around the 1880s when young people also had English according to the census. Presumably the influence of compulsory education. We talked about the resurgence of minority languages in Germany and the role of the precentor in leading Gaelic psalm singing in a church which had no musical instruments.

Address

Edderton Old Church, Edderton, By Tain
Highland
IV191LQ

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