The current parish church at Durris is built on the foundations of a medieval predecessor, which first comes onto the records in 1249. It was dedicated to St Comgall and was a small rectangular building with an attached burial aisle. This aisle, The Fraser Aisle, is the only surviving part of the older Durris church. The large surrounding graveyard is walled and curved inplaces, hinting of an old date. It is likely some of the stonework from the old church was rebuilt into the current parish church, which was built on the site in 1822.
Exterior
The church is rectangular on plan and consists of the nave, built in the 1820s, and the porch and vestry, added at the end of the 19th century. The church is rubble built, mostly from granite stone, and harled apart from the east gable and north wall. The roofs are slated.
The four bay nave has round-arched windows along the south elevation, which have small coloured glass panes. The main entrance is through the round-arched doorway in the porch, which is framed by a pediment above and dressed stone. The porch has a west window and a small window on the north side.
There is a round-arched window in the east gable, with a door below, which is only used occasionally. The north wall is featureless other than a lean-to structure that has been converted into a toilet and a single round-arched window at the west end. There is a tall, narrow bellcote on the west gable apex and small metal ventilators in the roof.
Interior
The interior of the church has cream coloured plastered walls and red carpeting over wooden floors. The sanctuary at the east end is raised from the nave by three steps and extends the full width of the church. Within the sanctuary is a small communion table with tre-foil headed cut-out panels, a similarly styled wooden lectern and a small pulpit in a darker wood. In the north-east corner is a pipe organ with delicately-painted pipes. Access to the east door is maintained but it is only occasionally used. There are large painted cross designs on the east wall.
The nave has original wooden pews with numbers intact on either side of a central aisle. There is a small section at the rear of the nave that is used as a meeting and coffee area. A wide west gallery is supported by the church walls with no internal supports. The gallery was inserted when the interior was recast and the porch and stairwell built in the 1890s. The gallery has similar pews to those in the nave and the front of the gallery has simple wooden panelling. The stairwell in the porch that provides access to the gallery has a fine oak bannister.
Medieval Church
The surviving part of the medieval church is the Fraser burial aislee, which is located just to the east of the current church. It is a small, rectangular structure with the walls reduced to wallhead height and the roof removed. It is rubble built and mostly harled. A metal gate leads into the interior, which has a number of graves and memorials to local lairds.
There is an early 19th century mort safe (metal coffin cover) which was placed in the aisle at some point. It is likely that the aisle was attached to the east gable of the old church and preserved as a burial aisle when the rest of the church was demolished and rebuilt.
Personal Note
In 1875 it was noted in a book "Epitaphs & Inscriptions in the Northeast of Scotland" that one of the gravestones read as follows...
Here lyes William Bisset, late farmer in Darn- fourd, who died ye 2d ... . 1743, aged 70 years. Also Isobel Pierie, his spouse, who died Nov. — 1742, aged 70. Vain mortals, learn from hence to know, Its vain to search for bliss below, since here ye virtuous, wise, and just Lies mould'ring to his ancient dust.
It's a flat stone and has probably become overgrown and now lost to time as it was not seen in a survey done in 1984 (109 years later), nor in 1997 when another survey was done. This is a disappointment for me as they are my eight times great grandparents and the furthest back I've traced on my paternal line
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