The original church was constructed in 1599 and dedicated to St Ternan, a Columban monk who arrived to convert the local Picts to Christianity.

This church was demolished and replaced by the current building in 1806, refurbished in 1930 and has had further improvements over the years.

All that remains of the ancient church dedicated to St Ternan is the “Erroll’s Aisle” located by the south wall of the church, where several members of the Erroll family are buried.

The Kirk is now deconsecrated and currently owned by a local community group (SEAchange).

The cemetery has an upper tier and a lower section which was originally the manse garden and which provided food for the minister. The lower section became an extension to the kirkyard and consecrated after the Armistice service on the 9^th November 1930.

On the wall is a war memorial listing those who died in both WW1 and WW2 and a Remembrance Day service is held here every year.

There is also a CWWG in the NE corner of the upper tier for Pte Matthew Thomson MM.

A Mort house is located in the NE corner for relatives to keep watch on the new grave of a loved one during the days of body snatching. There is a small hole in the south wall where apparently a gun could be poked out and fired to frighten off would be body snatchers.

A spring in the south east corner of the cemetery is known as St Ternan’s Well. There was once an iron cup chained to the wall which parishioners used to take a sip of water on their way to the Kirk on a Sunday morning.

This water is now heavily contaminated and not for consumption!

The cemetery is maintained by Aberdeenshire council and local volunteers.

Interment Records are available at – www.deceasedonline.com and also https://www.findagrave.com

For family history information or research contact – registrars@aberdeenshire.gov.uk