Garvock Parish Church - Aberdeenshire, Scotland - Country Churches on Waymarking.com

Garvock is a rural parish in the Mearns, a vast area of farming country on the east coast of Scotland. The Hill of Garvock is a long ridge running from south-west to north-east, separating the Howe of the Mearns from the North Sea coast. Up on the hill lies the old parish church of Garvock a few hundred yards north-east of the B9120 road that snakes its way over the hill from the small town of Laurencekirk around two miles away at the foot of the hill. The church sits among woodland in a fold in the hill along a track heading to the nearby farm at Collardo.

A church was first built on the site in 1275 and dedicated to St.James. Its successor was built in 1678 and lasted for a hundred years until the current building was built. It is a rectangular gothic-style building of rubble masonry with ashlar surrounds and quoins. The roof is slated.

The south elevation is seen from the roadway across an irregular shaped graveyard. It features two pointed-arch windows with Y-tracery either side of a centrally placed gabled porch. The porch has shallow-arched doorways on the west and eastern sides, the west being blocked making the east doorway the only entrance to the church. The gable on the porch has a pointed-arch window.

The west gable has a blocked arched doorway centrally placed with a lancet window above. Above this is a large metal clockface with Roman numerals. On top of the gable is a birdcage bellcote with moulded columns, a ball finial, weather vane, and a bell within.

The east gable has a wide pointed-arch window with Y-tracery and above, a small pointed-arch window.

The north elevation to the rear is featureless apart from a lean-too building which acted as a boiler room.

The church ceased to be in use in 2004 due to the union of Benholm and Johnshaven churches and was put up for sale. It remains out of use and is currently on the buildings at risk register.