Skene Parish Church

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Skene Parish Church is a congregation of the Church of Scotland at Skene, in the Presbytery of Gordon. The parish has two places of worship, Skene Church at Kirkton of Skene and Trinity Church at Westhill. The current minister is Rev. Iain U. Thomson.

The earliest record of a church at Skene dates from 1296, when one Patrick of Skene signed himself "Clericus of Skene". The mediaeval building stood by the Roman Road from Normandykes to Donside. Records of Skene Kirk Session begin in 1676. A 17th century building stood on the site of the present Skene Church.

Skene Church was built in 1801, a plain rectangular building with the pulpit in the centre of the south wall. As this was one of the long walls, the congregation were spread to the left and right of the minister. A gallery ran round the other three walls, and there were doors in each of the end walls. In 1932, the interior was entirely refurnished and the sanctuary moved to the east wall, the door on that wall being blocked off. The gallery was replaced with a smaller one on the west wall. In accordance with the changes in thinking on Scottish church architecture, the communion table now took centre place, with the pulpit on the left. A mortsafe outside the west door is an interesting historical object.

After the disruption of 1843, a Free Church was built near Kirkton. This congregation reunited with Skene parish in 1941. The old Free Church building was later used as a blacksmith's workshop.

In 1872, the congregation also built a mission hall at Lyne of Skene, which it kept until 1970.

Trinity Church at Westhill is an ecumenical project involving the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church; thus the dedication to the Trinity echos the three denominations in co-operation. This 1970s building is a hall church with moveable chairs, allowing flexibility of use. A later extension to the building added a second hall church to the complex, making it possible for two denominations to have services within the shared facilities simultaneously.

[Skene Church:[1]]

Source: Bicentenary booklet A History of the Parish of Skene, 2001 (introduction by Iain U. Thomson).