St Mary's Church, Cove Bay

Last updated October 23, 2024

St Mary the Virgin (Cove Bay) was an Episcopal Church in Cove Bay, Aberdeen, Scotland. It was part of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney in the Scottish Episcopal Church until its closure in April 2020.

History of the Church

When the Church was opened as an Episcopalian mission hall by Dr Alexander Forbes, Bishop of Brechin, in 1864, the fishing village of Cove Bay (which is now a suburb of Aberdeen) was largely made up of imported English fishermen and their families for whom the Episcopal (Anglican) faith was a central feature of life. The building originally served a dual purpose as a church and a boys' school, and has been an important part of the village's life for over a century.

From the very beginning there was a strong connection to St Peter's Episcopal Church in Torry. Often when there was no priest at St Mary's, members would walk along the coastal path to St Peter's for baptisms, confirmations, weddings or funerals.

The church building is a granite building with a slate roof and a bell. The interior pitched roof, is open, i.e., the wooden rafters and wooden roof boards are visible. It can seat approximately 100 persons. The Church was built with a rose window at the east end where the boys’ school met, and a raised, three-sided apse at the west end, where the original altar was situated.

In the 1890s a new school was built in Cove, and the building became solely a church.

The apse walls are thought to have been originally painted in 1870. The paintings were subsequently covered up, about 1924, when it was thought they were too "Catholic". In 1929 six stained glass windows were put into the building.

At some point in its history, the interior was re-oriented to face east, reflecting the traditional layout of an Episcopal church. The rear of the church was partitioned off and became a storage area for many years.

About 1990, the original vestry, situated off the south side, was converted to a kitchen, disabled toilet and a Church entrance. Disabled access was made via a ramp leading to the new side door. At that time an emergency door was established through the north wall.

By the late 1990s, through cultural changes and shifts in population, the congregation had dwindled to a handful of faithful members, and St Mary's building was in a sad state of disrepair.

The church building is now listed as category B by Historic Environment Scotland.^[1]

Cove Congregational Church

In October 2003, it was agreed that Cove Congregational Church should share the building. Since then the physical church has seen on-going repairs, detailed below, and the spiritual Church has found new life. The two congregations, Episcopal and Congregational, have very different styles of worship but share many other aspects of the church's life—fellowship meetings, fund-raisers, decisions about the property.

Cove Congregational Church began as a church plant in 1995. Cove Congregational Church is affiliated to the Congregational Federation; the Scottish Area has 29 member churches that are independent but share fellowship together, working together for mutual support.

Historic paintings

As part of the building restoration works, panelling at the west end of the building was removed, revealing five paintings of various sizes. These paintings have been described as "decorative panels of real historical interest". There is also a painting of Madonna. Advice has been taken from members of Episcopal Diocese, Aberdeen City Council, and The Conservation Studio, Edinburgh. All have indicated that the paintings are unusual, worth restoring and preserving for the Community.

Christmas Eve 2004 saw the first public showing of the first three restored paintings. Christmas 2005 saw the return of all the paintings. A special service was held in September 2005 to commemorate the unveiling of the restored artwork.

Service & Activity times

Sunday 9:30am (Episcopal)

Sunday 11:00am (Congregational) Thursday 7pm Bible Study Friday 3-5pm Craft & Friendship Club (Winter) Friday 6pm-8pm Boy's Brigade in Loirston Annexe (term time) Last Saturday of the Month 10am-12noon Community Coffee Morning

Related Research Articles

The Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin, commonly called St Mary's Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church. It is located on the Great Western Road, in the west end of Glasgow, Scotland. The current building was opened on 9 November 1871 as St Mary's Episcopal Church and was completed in 1893 when the spire was completed. The architect was Sir Gilbert Scott. It was raised to cathedral status in 1908. The total height of the cathedral is 63 metres. The church structure is protected as a category A listed building.

Sacred Heart Cathedral, located in Davenport, Iowa, United States, is a Catholic cathedral and a parish church in the Diocese of Davenport. The cathedral is located on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River to the east of Downtown Davenport. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Cathedral Complex. This designation includes the church building, rectory, and the former convent, which was torn down in 2012. The cathedral is adjacent to the Cork Hill Historic District, also on the National Register. Its location on Cork Hill, a section of the city settled by Irish immigrants.

The Cathedral Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, commonly known as St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church in the West End of Edinburgh, Scotland; part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney</span> Anglican diocese of the Scottish Episcopal Church

The Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney is one of the seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Created in 1865, the diocese covers the historic county of Aberdeenshire, and the Orkney and Shetland island groups. It shares with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen a Christian heritage that can be traced back to Norman times, and incorporates the ancient Diocese of Orkney, founded in 1035.

St Margaret of Scotland, also known as St Margaret's, Gallowgate, is a Scottish Episcopal Church, in Aberdeen, Scotland.

St Andrew's Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church situated in the Scottish city of Aberdeen. It is the see of the Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, who is the Ordinary of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney.

Whilst religious affiliation within Aberdeen is diverse, the majority of the population (58%) declared no religion in the 2021 United Kingdom census. Christianity is the dominant religion with 30% of the population associating their beliefs with Christian churches including the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church is a historic Carpenter Gothic–style Episcopal church building located at 219 Chunns Cove Road, in the Chunn's Cove neighborhood of Asheville, North Carolina. Built in 1894, at a cost of $728, St. Luke’s was designed by E. J. Armstrong, a member of the congregation. Its first service was held September 17, 1894.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mary's Church (Albany, New York)</span> Church in Albany, New York, US

St. Mary's Church is a Roman Catholic house of worship on Lodge Street in downtown Albany, New York, United States. It is a brick structure with an Italian Romanesque Revival exterior. Built in the 1860s, it is the third church to house the oldest Catholic congregation not only in the city, but in all of upstate New York. In 1977, St. Mary's Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places; it is also a contributing property to the Downtown Albany Historic District, listed several years later.

St. Mary's Catholic Church, also known as St. Mary of the Visitation Church, is a parish church of the Diocese of Davenport which is located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The church building and rectory were listed together on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. They were both included as contributing properties in the Jefferson Street Historic District in 2004. The parish's first rectory, which is now a private home, is also listed on the National Register as St. Mary's Rectory. It is located a few blocks to the east of the present church location at 610 E. Jefferson St.

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, formerly known as Grace Cathedral, is the historic cathedral in the Diocese of Iowa. The cathedral is located on the bluff overlooking Downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1873, Trinity is one of the oldest cathedrals in the Episcopal Church in the United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 1983 the cathedral was included as a contributing property in the College Square Historic District, which is also listed on the National Register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Episcopal Church of All Saints (Indianapolis)</span> Church in Indiana, United States

The Episcopal Church of All Saints serves the Old Northside Historic District near downtown Indianapolis. It is distinctive within the diocese for its Anglo-Catholic style of worship, and is historically significant as the first Episcopal Church in the United States to regularly ordain a woman as priest. The building also served as the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis from 1911 until 1954, when the bishop's seat was relocated to Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis.

St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, is located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It is the cathedral church of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

St. Stephen's Church, also known as St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, is an historic church located at 6807 Northumberland Highway, Heathsville, Northumberland County, in the Northern Neck of Virginia. Built in 1881, it was designed in the Carpenter Gothic style by T. Buckler Ghequiere. On December 28, 1979, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It remains in use by an active parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. It is located in the Heathsville Historic District.

St. James Episcopal Church at 76 Federal Street at the corner of Huntington Street in New London, Connecticut is a historic church in the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut. The congregation was founded in 1725, and the current church – the congregation's third – was built from 1847 to 1850 to designs in the Gothic Revival style by Richard Upjohn.

St. Mark's Episcopal Church is a historic church building at 146 College Street, Wadsworth, Ohio.

The Episcopal Church of the Resurrection is located on Gregory Lane in Pleasant Hill, California. It is a member church of the Episcopal Diocese of California. It was formed as an Episcopal mission on July 1, 1959 and the vicar was the Reverend Richard Shackell. Church of the Resurrection became a parish on March 16, 1967.

St Mary the Virgin is the Church of England parish church for East Barnet within the Diocese of St Albans. It is located on Church Hill.

The Church of St Mary the Virgin in Pilton is the 13th-century Anglican parish church for the Pilton suburb of Barnstaple in Devon. It has been a Grade I listed building since 1951 and comes under the Diocese of Exeter.

References

↑ Historic Environment Scotland. "COVE BAY, LOIRSTON ROAD, ST MARY THE VIRGIN SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH (Category B Listed Building) (LB19057)" . Retrieved 14 March 2019.

External links

St Mary's Church website

57°6′2″N2°4′45″W / 57.10056°N 2.07917°W / 57.10056; -2.07917

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Historic Environment Scotland. "COVE BAY, LOIRSTON ROAD, ST MARY THE VIRGIN SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH (Category B Listed Building) (LB19057)" . Retrieved 14 March 2019.

[1]