Our History

Nairn Free Church was ahead of its time. In September 1842 a constitution was framed for a new church in Nairn with the following principles:

• the Confession of Faith of the Church of Scotland
• spiritual independence (no interference from the State)
• non-intrusion (no patronage)

It might be said, therefore, that the Free Church in Nairn was founded almost a year before the national Free Church came into existence.

The congregation moved into its own newly-constructed building in King Street within three weeks of the Disruption in 1843. About 800 people attended the first service held there. The congregation was very active in these early years. In 1848 it opened a school in Courthouse Lane, beside the church. A report published in 1866 mentions seven prayer meetings, two adult Bible classes and three Sabbath Schools with about 380 scholars. Around this time a choir was formed to lead the praise. Accommodation at services was already becoming a problem.

In 1878 Alexander Lee, a particularly dynamic individual, became minister of the congregation. Soon  the accommodation issue had to be addressed. Architects were asked to design a new building to seat 1200 for a site between Queen Street and Millbank. Rev Dr John Kennedy of Dingwall preached at the opening service in December 1881 to a capacity congregation.

Not content with one new church, the office-bearers also decided in 1879 to look for a suitable site for a mission church in the lower part of the town. In 1882 a site in Wilson Street was found and the Laing Hall built. With the help of a bequest, another mission hall was opened in Tradespark in 1884 and named the McLeod Memorial Hall. This was a period of remarkable growth.

In 1900 a union took place nationally between the Free Church of Scotland and the United Presbyterian Church. The new church was known as the United Free Church of Scotland. In Nairn, the Free Church congregation became known as the United Free High to distinguish it from the other United Free congregation in the town at Rosebank. However, a small minority of the Free Church refused to join the Union and resolved to continue as the true Free Church. They won their case in the House of Lords in 1904 and in February 1905 a Free Church congregation was again formed in Nairn. It returned to its former place of worship, now the Drill Hall, for Sunday services.

A Royal Commission in 1905 awarded the 1881 church and adjoining hall to the United Free Church (later St Ninian’s Church of Scotland) and the mission hall at the corner of Wilson Street to the Free Church. This hall was found to be too small for the congregation and in 1908 it was decided to build a church, vestry and hall on a site at the corner of Gordon Street and King Street, where we still meet today.

The present Free Church congregation in Nairn includes members of the former  congregations of Cawdor, Croy and Ardersier, who gradually merged with the Nairn congregation in the latter half of the  20^th century. But there have also been signs of growth in recent years. During the ministry of Rev Bill Evans, between 2004 and 2008, the Rosebank Hall was renovated to provide us with a much-needed facility from which to run youth work, Christianity Explored courses and other activities for the community.

For our support and encouragement, Nairn Free Church was united with Smithton-Culloden Free Church in March 2008. We are now one church with two locations: Murray Road, Smithton, and Gordon Street, Nairn. In August 2008, Rev Murdo “Mud” MacLeod took up the position of Associate Minister for the joint congregation, accepting special responsibility for the work in Nairn, where he lives with his family.

We are grateful to God for his faithfulness over almost 170 years and look for his help as we try to make Jesus Christ known to the people of Nairn today.