Cromarty

Cromarty is a small village with a population of around 1000 people. It is situated around 30 miles north east of the City of Inverness. The village is popular with tourists who come to enjoy the beaches, local shops and the two museums. There are good local services with a doctors surgery, primary school, police station and an hourly bus service to Inverness.

The village has a long history and today the fine merchant houses and modest fisher people’s houses are well preserved. It is also famous for being the birth place and home of the geologist and writer, Hugh Miller.

Activities
Cromarty Parish Church has a membership of 42, with a regular attendance of 25. The profile of the congregation is predominantly of retirement age and the church would like to reach out to the missing age groups. However, there is a small number of school age children attending. There is currently one Sunday school for the younger children and a breakfast club for the older children. We are thankful for this encouraging area of work.

 A group meets for several months each year to prepare shoe boxes for the Blythswood shoe box appeal.
 

Buildings and facilities
The congregation meets at the West Church in Cromarty. This large building was constructed in 1860 as the home of the Free Church of Scotland congregation in Cromarty, but was united with the Church of Scotland in 1929. From that time there were two churches, the West, and the historic East Church. The East Church was sold to the Scottish Redundant Churches Trust in 1998, but services continue to be held there four times a year, usually during the summer months. The West Church is in good condition, dating from 1939, when it was rebuilt. It has a large ground floor seating area, traditional organ and an upper gallery. The bell room is used as a crèche with a speaker system so that those using it may still take part in the service. In addition to the main church building, there is also a kitchen and large hall at the rear of the building. The hall is spacious enough to sometimes be used for informal church services and is also popular with church and community groups who make use of the facilities.