St Ninian's Chapel in Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, is a Grade B listed Anglican chapel located in the grounds of the Mar Lodge Estate. [1] Built from 1895 to 1898 for use as a private chapel by the family of Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife, owners of Mar Lodge, it has been the property of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney in the Scottish Episcopal Church since 1899. St Ninian's Chapel is the most westerly church in the Diocese. [2]
St Ninian's Chapel has always been closely associated with Mar Lodge and its various owners.
St Ninian's Chapel was built at the same time as Mar Lodge. The foundation stone of Mar Lodge was laid by Queen Victoria on 15 October 1895. The house was completed in 1898. The architect of both Mar Lodge and St Ninian's Chapel was Alexander Marshall Mackenzie of Aberdeen, whose appointment seems to have been due to the fact that Queen Victoria thought highly of the design of Crathie Church (1893) and recommended him to her grandson-in-law, Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife. [3]
An account of the building costs compiled in 1898 lists the project as "Mar Lodge and Chapel" and the contractors Alexander Marshall McKenzie as architect, Mr Edgar Gauld as builder, and McRobbie & Milne as carpenters. The contract period was 34 months; work commenced in November 1895 and was completed in August 1898. The costs for the buildings are listed as Lodge – £31,720 4s 8d; Stables – £6,719 11s 4d; Chapel – £761 17s 1d; amounting to a total of £38,661 13s 1d. The professional fees payable are listed as Architect – £1,930 1s 10d; Consultant Electrical – £150; Inspector of Works – £317 3s 1d; amounting to a total of £2,397 4s 11d. [3]
Immediately after St Ninian's Chapel was completed, the Duke of Fife made a disposition to "the Right Reverend Father in God, Arthur Gascoigne Douglas, Doctor of Divinity, Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney in the Episcopal Church of Scotland" conveying the ownership of the chapel to the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney. The disposition was registered in Edinburgh on 14 January 1899. At that time St Ninian's became the property of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney and has remained so ever since. [3]
Next to Balmoral Castle, more Royal guests visited Mar Lodge than any other house in Scotland at that time. During the annual hunting season the Duke of Fife would hold functions for guests, tenants, and employees in the unique ballroom decorated with 3,000 stags heads. One may assume that St Ninian's Chapel would have been used regularly by the ducal family and their guests for services. [3]
The 1st Duke of Fife died in 1912. Under the terms of his will, Mar Estate came into possession of Trustees, who administered it on behalf of his eldest daughter, Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife. St Ninian's Chapel continued to be used as a private chapel until it passed out of her ownership in 1959. There are no surviving records of services held during the time the chapel was in private use. [3]
On the 2nd Duchess of Fife's death in 1959, the Mar Estate passed to Captain Alexander Ramsay, son of Princess Patricia of Connaught. At the same time the dukedom of Fife passed to the 2nd Duchess of Fife's nephew James Carnegie, Lord Carnegie, the son of her sister Princess Maud who had married the 11th Earl of Southesk who was born on 3 April 1893 at East Sheen Richmond-upon- Thames - Surrey - London - England and died on 14 December 1945 at the age of 52 years from bronchitis at a nursing home in London - England. Because of the enormous death duties payable on the 2nd Duchess of Fife's death, a large part of the Mar Estate had to be sold. It was divided into Mar Lodge Estate north of the river Dee and Mar Estate south of the river Dee. The Trustees eventually sold Mar Lodge Estate to a property company, after which it passed through several hands until it was acquired by the National Trust for Scotland in 1995. [3]
St Ninian's Chapel is located in the grounds of the Mar Lodge Estate, a hunting lodge and former residence of the Duke and Duchess of Fife. The lodge and chapel are located in a rural setting, south of a steep hillside and close to the road through the valley. Open, flat parkland belonging to the estate stretches to the south with numerous trackways and paths. The chapel itself is built close to the Mar Lodge complex, within a large walled garden area [4] separated from the surrounding parkland by an iron grille fence.
St Ninian's Chapel is a small rectangular building in a neo-Romanesque style with a gabled porch on the south elevation. It was built using large, tooled red granite blocks with ashlar detailing stones. [4] The dressed stone used for Mar Lodge and St Ninian's Chapel came from the Hill of Fare Banchory and the undressed stone from the quarry at the top of Chapel Brae, Braemar. The timber was from local Caledonian Pine. [3] The roof has small red tiles with decorative red ridge tiles. [4]
The north side has three small round-arched windows, again with stained glass. The west gable has a single pointed-arch window with stained glass, while the east gable has a single, large round-arch window with stained glass with a cross finial on the apex of the roof above. [4]
The south side has two small round-arched windows, each with stained glass. The entrance porch is at the western end. It has a round-arched doorway with a simple hoodmould above. There is a double-leaf timber door with decorative iron hinges. There is a small cross finial on the apex. [4]
The interior of St Ninian's Chapel is small and intimate, [4] with seating for approximately 40 people. [2] The hammerbeam roof is exposed and visible from the nave. There are simple wooden pews in the nave, divided by a central aisle. [4]
The chancel is stepped up from the nave and has a stone slab floor [4] under which is the burial vault. [3] The chancel has a small altar with a cover, with chancel rails in front. There is a wooden prayer stall and a reading desk and lectern. On the east wall behind the altar is a fine reredos with painted panels depicting angels and the Crucifixion. [4] The crucifix is inscribed on the back: "For Mar Lodge Chapel from Alexandra Princess of Wales Xmas 1890." [3] It is possible that the reredos and the altar frontal were designed by Charles Eamer Kempe. [3]
In front of the altar is a burial vault covered with five slabs, each 2.50 feet (76.2 cm) wide. [3] The first slab, set into the floor in between the left wall of the chapel and the altar, seems to form the access to the vault and is sealed with concrete (photo). The vault of St Ninian's Chapel is built of polished red granite; before it was sealed up for the first time after the burial of the 1st Duke of Fife, the estate servants and their families were invited to view the vault. [5] There are four burials recorded there:
Set into the walls of the chapel are eight inscriptions dedicated to the memory of the following:
St Ninian's Chapel features a series of high-quality stained-glass windows, manufactured by Charles Eamer Kempe & Co Ltd, Millbrook Place, London. Kempe founded his studios in London in 1869, and later employed some hundred artists, designers and craftsmen. After his death in 1907, his studios became a limited company until they closed in 1934. The artist for the windows in St Ninian's was John William Lisle. All are single designs: [3] [4]
The West window and one of the North windows bears the mark of Kempe and the artist Walter Tower, a wheatsheaf with a tower imposed. Details of the windows are held by the Archive of Art and Design at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. [3]
There are fourteen painted Stations of the Cross. [3]
St Ninian's Chapel does not have a pipe organ but a small harmonium.
Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife, born Lady Alexandra Duff and known as Princess Arthur of Connaught after her marriage, was the eldest surviving grandchild of Edward VII and also the first cousin of George VI. Alexandra and her younger sister, Maud, had the distinction of being the only female-line descendants of a British sovereign officially granted both the title of Princess and the style of Highness.
James George Alexander Bannerman Carnegie, 3rd Duke of Fife was a British landowner, farmer and peer. He was the grandson of Louise, Princess Royal, a daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. As a female-line great-grandson of a British sovereign, he did not carry out royal or official duties or receive any funds from the Civil List. He was the second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, and King Harald V of Norway. Through his maternal grandfather, he was also a descendant of William IV and Dorothea Jordan.
Alexander Arthur Alfonso David Maule Ramsay of Mar, DL was the only child of Princess Patricia of Connaught, who renounced her royal title and style when she married then-Captain the Hon. Alexander Ramsay in February 1919. His mother was the youngest child of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, the third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. His father was the third son of John Ramsay, 13th Earl of Dalhousie. Through the marriage of his maternal aunt, Princess Margaret of Connaught, to the Swedish prince who later became King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden, his first cousins included Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, whose son later became King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden; and Princess Ingrid of Sweden, who later became Queen of Denmark after marrying the Danish prince who later became King Frederik IX of Denmark.
Alastair Arthur Windsor, 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was a member of the British Royal Family. He was the only child of Prince Arthur of Connaught and Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife. He was a great-grandson of Queen Victoria through his father and a great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria through his mother. He was also a descendant of Victoria's paternal uncle and predecessor, William IV, through an illegitimate line.
Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife was the third child and eldest daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom; she was a younger sister of King George V. Louise was given the title of Princess Royal in 1905. Known for her shy and quiet personality, Louise remained a low-key member of the royal family throughout her life.
Alexander William George Duff, 1st Duke of Fife,, styled Viscount Macduff between 1857 and 1879 and known as the Earl Fife between 1879 and 1889, was a Scottish nobleman and peer who married Princess Louise, the third child and eldest daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
Duke of Fife is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom that has been created twice, in both cases for Alexander Duff, 1st Earl of Fife. In 1889, Lord Fife married Princess Louise, the eldest daughter of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk, titled Princess Maud from 1905 to 1923, was a granddaughter of Edward VII. Maud and her elder sister, Alexandra, had the distinction of being the only female-line descendants of a British sovereign officially granted both the title of Princess and the style of Highness.
Earl of Southesk is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1633 for Sir David Carnegie, an Extraordinary Lord of Session. He had already been created Lord Carnegie of Kinnaird in 1616 and was made Lord Carnegie, of Kinnaird and Leuchars, at the same time he was given the earldom. These titles are also in the Peerage of Scotland. The earldom is named after the River South Esk in Angus. Carnegie's younger brother John Carnegie was given the corresponding title: earl of Northesk. The earl of Southesk also holds the Scottish feudal title of Baron of Kinnaird and is a baronet in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. Kinnaird Castle, Brechin, has been the home of the earls of Southesk for several hundred years.
Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, around 58 miles (93 km) west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. It is the closest significantly-sized settlement to the upper course of the River Dee, sitting at an elevation of 339 metres (1,112 ft).
Crathie Kirk is a small Church of Scotland parish church in the Scottish village of Crathie, best known for being the regular place of worship of the British royal family when they are in residence at the nearby Balmoral Castle.
The Royal Burial Ground is a cemetery used by the British royal family. Consecrated on 23 October 1928 by the Bishop of Oxford, it is adjacent to the Royal Mausoleum, which was built in 1862 to house the tomb of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The burial ground lies on the Frogmore estate within the Home Park at Windsor, in the English county of Berkshire.
Mar Lodge is a sporting lodge 5 miles to the west of Braemar and the principal building on the Mar Lodge Estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It was built in 1895, replacing an earlier building, by Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife.
Mar Lodge Estate is a highland estate in western Aberdeenshire, Scotland, which has been owned and managed by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) since 1995. Its principal building, Mar Lodge, is about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of the village of Braemar. The estate is recognised as one of the most important nature conservation landscapes in the British Isles and occupies nearly 8% of the Cairngorms National Park, covering 29,340 hectares. The natural heritage value of the estate is reflected by the fact that much of it is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Special Protection Area (SPA). The entire estate has been classified as a national nature reserve since May 2017, and is designated a Category II protected area by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Mar Lodge Estate is the largest remnant of the ancient Earldom of Mar in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland.
Ballater railway station is a former station in the village of Ballater in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The station was formerly the terminus of a branch line from Aberdeen.
Alexander Marshall MacKenzie was a Scottish architect responsible for prestigious projects including the headquarters of the Isle of Man Banking Company in Douglas, and Australia House and the Waldorf Hotel in London.
Charles Noel Carnegie, 10th Earl of Southesk JP DL, was a Scottish nobleman.
St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is a Royal Peculiar, and the Chapel of the Order of the Garter. St George's Chapel was founded in the 14th century by King Edward III and extensively enlarged in the late 15th century. It is located in the Lower Ward of the castle.
Kilmun Parish Church and Argyll Mausoleum in Kilmun, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, consists of St Munn's Church, as well as the adjacent mausoleum of the Dukes of Argyll and a historically significant churchyard. The complex is located on the summit of a slight knoll about ten metres from the shoreline of the Holy Loch on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll, Scotland. The existing church dates from 1841 and occupies the site of an older, medieval church. A partly ruined tower from the medieval period still stands to the west of the present building.
