Birnie Kirk

Birnie Kirk stands 4 km south of Elgin in Moray, a 12th-century Norman parish church still used for worship. Built of finely cut ashlar, it replaced an earlier 6th-century Celtic kirk on a site that had been a holy place since pre-Christian times. The rectangular building has a short square chancel separated by a rounded Norman arch, with lancet windows in the north and south walls. The church was the seat of the Bishops of Moray from 1107 until 1184, serving as a cathedral until 1322. Inside, a plain Romanesque font stands in the nave, and the chancel holds a Celtic bell believed to have been made in Rome and blessed by the pope. A 17th-century bible covered in calf’s fur, known locally as the Hairy Bible, is also kept there. The oval burial enclosure around the kirk suggests an earlier medieval site, and a Pictish symbol stone carved with a sea-lion, Z-rod and rectangular device leans against the west wall. The graveyard contains a war memorial designed like a chapel gable, with two inlaid plaques beneath a Romanesque arch. The site was designated a scheduled monument in 1969, and the church itself is listed as a Category A building. Since January 2024 it has been used by the Roman Catholic Church’s Personal Ordinariate for weekly Evening Prayer and monthly Mass.