Fasnakyle Free Church, Strathglass, Kilmorack Parish, Inverness-shire, Scotland

Date: About 1870
Location: Fasnakyle, Strathglass, Kilmorack Parish, Inverness-shire, Scotland

Photograph of Fasnakyle Free Church as it appears today.

The Free Church at Fasnakyle is located off the present-day Glen Affrick Road at DMS coordinates: 57°19'28"N, 4°47'43"W

The church was described in the Ordnance Survey Name Book as follows:

"FREE CHURCH [Fasnakyle] [...] A neat building, erected in 1870 by private Subscription for the accomodation of the inhabitants in the Western portion of the Parish, Seated for 600, it is Situated 1¾ miles south of Cannich".

The church appears to have been planned and built by the long-serving minister, Rev Mr Colin Fraser (abt.1807-1889) before he retired due to failing eyesight. In correspondence with the editor of the Inverness Courier in 1868 Rev Fraser is quoted as follows:

"At the commencement of this century there were very few Protestants in the upper district of Strathglass; there is now a considerable number, and they need a church […] The mission, 34 miles in length, I divided into two districts. I said we had a small church in the lower district, supplying the wants of about seven miles of country, so that there were twenty-seven miles left for the upper district, for which the new church was wanted."

[Source: "Church Accommodation in Strathglass," The Inverness Courier [Scotland], 13 February 1868, page 5, column 5; British Newspaper Archive, database with images (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk : accessed 22 October 2020), citing Rev. C. Fraser, Strathglass.]

For more informaiton, please see the entry for Fasnakyle Free Church, written by the Strathglass Heritage Association.