A tall former Secession meeting house closes the view along Evanton’s main street, its bellcote preserving the planned village’s strongest architectural accent.
Quick facts
- Date
- Early nineteenth century; documented locally as 1824; later school and meeting-place alterations
- Architect / designer
- Designer uncertain; HES notes work in the style of James Smith
- Type
- Former meeting house with two-storey front and bellcote tower
- Designation
- Listed building, Category B (LB7864)
- OS grid reference
- NH 60363 66255
Architecture and continuing use
The nearly square rubble building presents five bays over two storeys. A shallow central projection rises into a narrow tower, passing a stone clock face before ending in a pilastered bellcote and ogee cap. Round-headed upper windows and paired outer doors survive around later subdivisions made when the interior changed use.
Its story
Evanton was laid out around 1800, and the meeting house followed early in the nineteenth century. Local research dates its construction to 1824. After the congregation declined, the building accommodated a girls’ school, the Free Church school and other village groups; HES recorded it as empty and in poor condition when the descriptive note was compiled.
Why it is included
It makes religious division, education and later community reuse legible in the building deliberately placed at the head of the planned street.
What to notice
- The centre bay stepping upward into the clock and bellcote.
- Round-headed openings interrupted by later horizontal floors.
- The building’s terminal position in the planned village street.
Reading the surroundings
View from public streets without approaching doors or private ground. The record does not establish present public access or building condition.
Timeline
- Circa 1800 The new village of Evanton was laid out to replace Drummond.
- 1824 Local research dates the Secession meeting house to this year.
- Later 19th century School and meeting uses introduced internal subdivisions and altered openings.
- 1971 The former chapel entered the statutory list at Category B.
What we know — and what remains uncertain
The 1824 date comes from local research, while HES describes the building more broadly as early nineteenth century. The designer and present internal use remain uncertain.
Sources & further reading
- Historic Environment Scotland: Former Secession Chapel, Chapel Street, LB7864 — Current designation status, statutory identity, official mapped point, date, fabric and significance.
- Trove: Former Secession Chapel — National collection entry corroborating designation identity, mapped position and related archive material.
- Highland Historic Environment Record: Former Secession Chapel — Local record expanding the chapel’s nineteenth-century congregational, school and meeting-place history.
- National Library of Scotland: georeferenced historic maps — Historic-map comparison for Evanton, Kiltearn and the Novar estate; individual map dates and layers should be checked.
Location
OS grid reference NH 60363 66255 · Location confidence: High for the current HES designation point; public text separately qualifies the extent of multi-part sites, access and any present-use uncertainty. · Select the marker to open its satellite view in Google Maps. On desktop, drag Pegman (the yellow figure) onto a blue road. On mobile, turn on the Street View layer and tap a blue road. Other photo markers may be user-contributed.
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