A Highland mission church

John R Hume considers the history of a small, but fascinating, church overlooking the coast of Uist.

LAST month my subject was Daviot Parish Church, a landmark in the large united (since 1618), thoroughly landlocked, parish of Daviot and Dunlichity a few miles south of Inverness.

In contrast, for this month, I have chosen Carinish Mission Church, near the west coast of North Uist, at the other extremity of what used to be Inverness-shire.

This little church is so modest that were it not in the sparse landscape that characterises North Uist it might well be overlooked. And yet it has the charm of simplicity –a small unadorned, rectangular building with a little porch. The only hint that it is a church is that it has round-headed windows.

Inside is a plain, almost austere, worship space, of a character which many architectural historians (conditioned by connection with the Anglican Communion) would call a ‘preaching box’. In other (and to my mind more appropriate) terms it is a space intended for the reading and preaching of the Word of God, extempore prayer and the singing of metrical psalms, all historically in Gaelic. In churches like this one feels closer to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, than almost anywhere else.

In Carinish there is the added meaning given by a ‘long Communion table’ running the length of the worship space. For many years such tables were characteristic of Church of Scotland buildings. Worshippers at Communion services sat in pews on either side of the table and at the start of the Sacrament moved to the benches running along the sides of the table, with the minister at its head. The bread and wine were then passed from hand to hand round the table in a very meaningful echo of the disciples at the Last Supper. If necessary several sittings could be arranged. The only time I ever experienced such a Communion was in Stewartfield New Charge in East Kilbride, where we sat round ordinary community centre tables put together for the purpose, an unforgettable experience. A few other long tables survive, including one at Howmore in South Uist. In the Parliamentary Churches of the 1820s long tables ran across, rather than along, the worship space.

This little building has other important associations. It was built in 1867 as a ‘mission’ church. Such churches were built in both town and country in the 19th century where there were not the resources to provide full-time ministers. These were staffed by ‘missionaries’. As a young man visiting North Uist in the early 1960s, I attended morning and evening services in Gaelic conducted by a missionary, with singing of unaccompanied psalms and long extemporary prayers. For Communion services in mission churches ordained ministers were brought in to celebrate the Sacrament. Long before the 19th century, however, Carinish was recognised as a spiritual place. Near it are the ruins of a church known as ‘Teampull na Trionaid’ – the ’Church of the Holy Trinity’.

In The Buildings of Scotland: Highland and the Islands it is stated that ‘It is said to have been built in about 1200 by Bethoc, daughter of Somerled, Lord of the Isles and first Prioress of Iona’. The ruins are impossible to decipher, and their association with Bethoc may well be true. My strong feeling is, however, that the dedication to the Holy Trinity implies a much older association with Iona, namely as part of the mission of Columba’s associates to bring the message of the ‘Church of the Incarnation’ to the Gaelicspeaking peoples of the western Highlands and Island in the 6th century. I believe that the site of the Teampull has been a place of worship since then.

The ruins have the unmistakable atmosphere of a place of ancient worship. The juxtaposition of these two buildings is absolutely unforgettable.