Maule Memorial Church - Tarfside, Angus.
Posted by: 
creg-ny-baa
N 56° 54.212 W 002° 49.697
30V E 510458 N 6306660
Church situated at Tarfside, up Glen Esk in the county of Angus, under the Church of Scotland denomination.
Waymark Code: WM12098
Location: Northern Scotland, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/22/2020
Views: 2
Glen Esk is the most easterly of the Angus Glens, valleys that burrow their way into the eastern Grampian Mountains of Scotland. Around ten miles up the fifteen mile long glen at the only sizeable settlement of Tarfside, is the Maule Church, now under the Church of Scotland but once the Tarfside Free Church.
The church was built on land granted by landowner Fox Maule Ramsay in 1852 and completed in 1857. Designed by Liverpool architects W.H., J.W. and J. Hay, and built by Robert Dinnie, it opened as the Tarfside Free Church and continued as such until the 1930s when it was renamed as the Maule Memorial Church and came under the denomination of the Church of Scotland.
The church is built of sandstone rubble with Saxon romanesque detailing amidst woodland off to the left of the Glen Esk road. The north elevation is dominated by the church's main feature, the large two stage square tower, which features narrow round-arched windows with slit openings higher up. Near the top are pairs of louvred round arch belfry openings. A porch is attached on the north side. Three small round-arch windows are placed along the north elevation.
The west gable features three tall round-arched windows with the central one being taller. On the east gable are two slim round-arched windows. The south elevation features the entrance porch with a Celtic-cross finial on the apex. Round-arched windows are placed along the length of the elevation.
The church is situated on the left of the road up the glen just before entering the hamlet of Tarfside. The church shares its services with the Lochlee Church which lies up at the top of the glen.