Loch Insh Old Kirk

26/01/2026

WE ARE LIVE AND NEED YOUR HELP!

Before we can purchase our beautiful Kirk we need to raise funds for the boring but necessary administrative costs. We have identified funders to help us once we own the Kirk but we need your support and networks to get us to that point!

You can help now by donating to our Crowdfunder and sharing amongst your networks. Every penny really does make a difference. THANK YOU for the enthusiasm to date, this isn't a project without you.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/saving-loch-insh-old-kirk---foundations-fund

The countdown is on! Help us fund the legal groundwork so we can buy the Old Kirk by the 2026 deadline.

04/12/2025

Hi everyone! We are gathering feedback from the community about the future of our little white church above Loch Insh. We are keen to hear from locals and others with close connections to it, so would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to fill out this survey for us, please. It needs to be done by Tuesday 9th of December. Thank you!

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

25/07/2025

Lovely to hear Newtonmore local, Nicole Dempster, reporting on the Loch Insh Old Kirk project for BBC Naidheachdan. There are also small segments from James Dryburgh, of Aviemore and Sweden, and Merryn Glover, of Kincraig and Australia.

Tha deasbad a' dol ann am Bàideanach an dràsta mu na tha dàn do dh'eaglais Innis ann an sgìre Cheann na Creige.

21/07/2025

We're in the Strathy! "Community's vision for kirk"

Thanks to our local Kincraig resident journalist, Tom Ramage, for attending our Community Vision Event and reporting on it for the local paper.

You can read the full article here: https://www.strathspey-herald.co.uk/news/badenoch-congregation-aiming-to-take-over-kirk-from-church-o-386892/

If you didn't manage to attend on the day but would like to share your ideas for the development of this beautiful site, then do get in touch via the comments or on [email protected]

You can also sign up to be a friend or member of the new SCIO at this link here: https://forms.gle/r3DD4sAJdGnufhzp7



Scotland's Churches Trust Heritage Network Church of Scotland Historic Churches Scotland

15/07/2025

Guess who dropped into Loch Insh Old Kirk just when BBC ALBA were here to film yesterday? None other than James and Maggan Dryburgh who were married here many moons ago. They met through international curling competitions and now live in Maggan's native Sweden. James grew up in Aviemore and went to Kingussie High School, same as reporter Nicole Webber Dempster, so there was much chat and name dropping!

The Dryburghs come back to Aviemore with their children every year and always visit the old kirk where they made their sacred vows. James kindly talked to camera about why they chose to be married here and why they keep coming back.

Check out the news on BBC Alba soon to see the story and learn more about our community buy-out plan. It helps if you speak Gaelic, but James and Merryn Glover Appleby speak in English, so you should be able to follow that bit!



Scottish Historic Buildings Trust Historic Churches Scotland

07/07/2025

We were on STV! It's wonderful to see the growing interest in saving this beautiful little old church.

For clarity: it was the wider community who turned up at the Vision Event last week (not just the congregation) and it will be a community-based charity that makes an offer for the building. Although members of the existing congregation are definitely involved, this project for the new life of the kirk is independent of the Church of Scotland.

Everyone is welcome to join us as a friend, and anyone living in the local area can sign up to be a member. See the comments for the link.

Scotland's Churches Trust Historic Churches Scotland Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

02/07/2025

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came to our Community Vision Event on Sunday afternoon! We had a wonderful time and were delighted by the turnout. Folks came from across the strath and enjoyed chatting over the generous spread of cakes, sharing stories and photos and hearing the presentations.

These included a fascinating talk from our resident architect Alan Marshall, of Invereshie House, who sketched out some of the history of the building, showed us his architectural photos and
drawings and suggested some possible ideas for development.

Peter Mackay shared about the potential for the church as a local history hub and Paul Bayton explained the current status of the land, what is for sale by the Church of Scotland, and what the process is for purchase.

In small groups, everyone was invited to share why the building was important to them and their ideas for future uses. All of these were noted by the facilitators and we’ll share these here on the page in the coming weeks.

Merryn held the event together with welcome, explanations, fielding questions, encouraging people to get involved and wrapping up at the end.

We were delighted to have Tom Ramage from the Strathy and his brother Iain Ramage from STV providing press coverage.

Most of all, it was wonderful to see lots of people in the building enjoying its beauty and each other’s company. A great sign of things to come!

We would love to have you on board! If anyone would like to sign up to become either a friend or member of the Loch Insh Old Kirk charity, please fill out the form at the link below. Anyone can
become a friend and get regular news updates. Members must be resident in Badenoch & Strathspey, be 16+ and support the purposes of the charity (which you will see on the form). Members can vote and help shape the future of the charity.

https://forms.gle/r3DD4sAJdGnufhzp7

28/06/2025

We have been enormously privileged to have the generous support of community member, Alan Marshall, who is a conservation architect with a specialism in old churches. He has done what we think are the first architectural drawings of the church as well as a condition report and ideas for future developments.

Alan will be presenting his drawings and proposals at our Community Vision Event tomorrow, so don't miss it! He has sent his drone over the top and personally crawled through the roof space in his investigations, so you can literally hear the inside story of this place like never before.

For example, what is that secret cavity in the photo below that we didn't know about? And is there an ancient formula that underlies the very precise proportions of the interior of the church? Ooooh, roll over Da Vinci Code!

Come and find out!
Sunday, 29th June, 3pm
Loch Insh Old Kirk - there is limited parking off the road below the church as well as below the cemetery just beyond it. Best if you can cycle or walk.

The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland
Scottish Historic Buildings Trust
Historic Churches Scotland

24/06/2025

Look at these lovely wedding photos that Alison Freshwater, Alan Marshall and Suzy Bashford Haworth have sent us to share at our Community Vision Event this Sunday! So many people have marked significant life events in this special little church.

We'd love to have lots and lots of photos! Have you got any pictures of christenings or weddings or other special events that you'd be happy for us to include in a slide show on the day? Or, if you'd like us to include pictures of your loved ones whose funerals were held in the church, we would be honoured to receive those, too.

It is a place where major rites of passage have been celebrated: the arrival of new babies, the marriages of lovers, the farewells of our beloved ones. It holds the life events of so many people and for this alone, it is sacred ground.

If you have photos to share, do bring them to the event and, better still, scan and email them to us on [email protected]

21/06/2025

What better place to dream and plan for the future of Loch Insh Old Kirk than our very own Old Post Office Cafe Gallery ? It's another historic building in the village of Kincraig that has been brought to new life by the inspirational Toni and Ann Vastano. History doesn't have to repeat itself or keep us stuck in the past; but it can give us a strong foundation for shaping fresh ideas and new ways of being community.

Come and join us on Sunday 29th at 3pm in the church building to do just that.

13/06/2025

Future of Loch Insh Old Kirk - Community Vision Event

- Sun 29th June, 3pm at the church building

- Bring photos and share stories
- Learn about buy-out plans
- Get involved!
- Tea and buns served