History
The history of the church is these parts goes back 1,500 years to the sixth century AD when a Christian monastic foundation was established in Rosemarkie.
It is believed that the present Rosemarkie Church of Scotland (opened in 1821) stands on this site, and much authenticated archeaological evidence is available to support that conclusion. There is further early evidence that the centre of gravity of Christianity in this area moved about one mile to the west where a Cathedral was built; the ruins of a thirteenth-century successor to that building exist to this day, in Fortrose. The structures are carefully maintained by Historic Scotland.
The history of the church following the Reformation is fairly well documented for the Fortrose & Rosemarkie area and (concerning the Church of Scotland) culminates in the union of Fortrose Church of Scotland with Rosemarkie Church of Scotland into one parish, the present-day Parish of Fortrose and Rosemarkie. From 1 January 2024 it became part of a union with Cromarty and Avoch, the congregation now being known as Black Isle East. The minister is Rev Dr Warren R Beattie.
There is not space here to go into the details of the post-Reformation events and developments, but details can be found in a booklet entitled ‘A Short History of the Parish of Fortrose & Rosemarkie’ by the late Stuart Edmond, currently out of print.
A short article about the Church appeared in the July 2021 issue of Life and Work. It can be accessed through this link:
documents/cofs.website.whats.on.weekly/misc/rosemarkie-church-john-r-hume.pdf
