View source for Crimond Church

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox church
| icon                   =
| icon_width             =
| icon_alt               =
| name                   = Crimond Parish Church
| fullname               = 
| other name             = 
| native_name            = 
| native_name_lang       =

| image                  = File:Crimondchurch.jpg
| image_size             = 
| alt                    = front of the church with spire
| caption                = Crimond Church

| pushpin map            = Scotland Aberdeenshire
| pushpin label position = 
| pushpin map alt        = 
| pushpin mapsize        = 
| relief                 = 
| map caption            = 
| coordinates            = {{coord|57.59400|N|1.91802|W|region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(NK0556)|display=title}}
| osgraw                 = 
| osgridref              =
| location               = [[Crimond]], [[Aberdeenshire]]
| country                = Scotland, UK
| denomination           = [[Church of Scotland]]
| website                = {{URL|crimondchurch.com}}
| founded date           = <!-- {{start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} - but see note below -->
| founder                = 
| people                 = [[James Laing (doctor)|Dr James Laing]], [[Jessie Seymour Irvine]] 
| status                 = [[Parish church]]
| functional status      = Active
| heritage designation   = [[Category A listed]]
| designated date        = 1971
| architect              = [[Robert Mitchell (architect)|Robert Mitchell]]
| architectural type     = 
| style                  = [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival]]
| years built            = 1812
| parish                 = [[Crimond]]
| synod                  = [[Grampian]]
| presbytery             = [[Buchan]]
| minister               = 
| assistant              = 
| deaconess              = 
}}

'''Crimond Church''' is a [[Christianity|Christian]], [[Church of Scotland]] [[Presbyterian church]], located on the east side of the [[A90 road]] in the centre of the village of [[Crimond]], [[Aberdeenshire]], [[Scotland]] at location {{gbmappingsmall|NK0556}}. It was built in 1812, to a design by [[Robert Mitchell (architect)|Robert Mitchell]],<ref name="McKean144">{{cite book |last1=McKean |first1=Charles |title=Banff & Buchan: An Illustrated Architectural Guide |date=1990 |publisher=Mainstream Publications Ltd. |location= |isbn=185158-231-2 |page=144}}</ref> and is a Category A listed building.<ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB3028|desc=PARISH CHURCH OF CRIMOND INCLUDING ENCLOSING WALLS RAILINGS AND GATES|cat=A|access-date=19 March 2019}}</ref> It is associated with the popular hymn tune "Crimond".

The church celebrated its bicentenary in 2012 with a special service led by The Very Rev. Prof. [[Alan Main (minister)|Alan Main]], a former [[Moderator of the Church of Scotland]] (1998–99).<ref name="history" />

== Architecture ==
[[File:CrimondClock.jpg|thumb|225px|left|Crimond clock, with 61 minutes]]

The church clock, bearing the inscription [[The Day of Judgement|"The hour's coming"]], has an extra minute between the eleven and twelve making for 61 minutes in the hour. The clock was gifted by [[James Laing (doctor)|Dr James Laing]] from his Haddo Estate in the early 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.abdn.ac.uk/slavery/4p2.htm |title=A North East Story - Scotland, Africa and Slavery in the Caribbean |access-date=2015-10-15 |archive-date=2015-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151115112515/http://www.abdn.ac.uk/slavery/4p2.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=October 2021}} The clock is now powered by electricity, but the original mechanical movement is displayed in the church in memory of late councillor Norman Cowie OBE who raised the funds for the electrification of the clock. In 1949, when the clock was being repainted, the extra minute was removed, but thus caused such a furore that it was restored.<ref name="history">{{cite web |title=History |url=http://crimondchurch.com/history/ |website=Crimond Parish Church |access-date=3 June 2020}}</ref>

The church's fish-shaped [[weather vane]] was lost for many years but was found in the 1990s and reinstalled at the top of the spire. The vane had previously been the target of vandalism, showing bullet holes from an air rifle.<ref name="history" />

The [[pipe organ]] is a [[Manual (organ)|two-manual]] instrument built by [[Conacher and Co.]], one of only two in Scotland (the other is in [[St Mary's Cathedral, Aberdeen]]). It was restored in 1985.<ref name="history" />

== The Lord's my Shepherd ==
The [[hymn]] "[[The Lord's my Shepherd]]", a [[Metrical Psalm|metrical paraphrase]] of [[23rd Psalm]], is traditionally sung to the [[hymn tune]] {{Smallcaps|Crimond}}.<ref name="hymnology">{{cite web |title=Hymnology |url=https://hymnology.hymnsam.co.uk/j/jessie-seymour-irvine |website=hymnology.hymnsam.co.uk |access-date=3 June 2020}}</ref>  It is thought that this tune was composed in 1871 by  [[Jessie Seymour Irvine]]  (1836–1887), daughter of the minister, Rev. Alexander Irvine (1804–1884). The tune was first published in ''The Northern Psalter'' (1872) but was attributed to David Grant. According to some accounts, Grant had only provided the harmonisation and that it was Irvine who wrote the melody, although this claim has been disputed by some scholars. Hymnals now generally now credit the hymn to Irvine.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Humphreys |first1=Maggie |last2=Evans |first2=Robert |title=Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland |date=1997 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-7201-2330-2 |page=180 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSLUAwAAQBAJ&q=The%20Northern%20Psalter%20(c.1872)%20crimond%20david%20grant&pg=PA180 |access-date=3 June 2020 |language=en}}
</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ewan |first1=Elizabeth L. |last2=Innes |first2=Sue |last3=Reynolds |first3=Sian |last4=Pipes |first4=Rose |title=Biographical Dictionary of ScottishWomen |date=2007 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-2660-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zs6qBgAAQBAJ&q=%22How+far+is+it+to+Crimond%3F%22&pg=PA180 |access-date=3 June 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Browse">{{cite book |last1=Browse |first1=Mark |title=O Little Town |date=2015 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-1-326-29701-5 |pages=25–27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=878ECwAAQBAJ&q=Jessie%20Seymour%20Irvine&pg=PA25 |access-date=7 June 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

A set of four [[Glass etching|etched glass]] panels inside the church commemorate Jessie Seymour Irvine as the composer. The panels were installed in 2002 in memory of a previous minister, Rev James E Lyall (d.2002) and are illustrated with imagery of Jesus as the [[Good Shepherd]] and with musical notation from the first line of the hymn tune.<ref name="history" /><ref>{{cite web |title=O Little Town: Crimond |url=https://hymntunes.blogspot.com/2015/07/crimond.html |website=O Little Town |access-date=7 June 2020 |date=4 July 2015}}</ref> Both Jessie and her father Alexander are buried in the family grave in the churchyard of [[St Machar's Cathedral]] in [[Aberdeen]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Records of Old Aberdeen, MCLVII-[MCMIII] |date=1909 |publisher=New Spalding Club |page=247 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVkJAAAAIAAJ&q=Rev.+Alexander+Irvine+crimond+minister |access-date=7 June 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

{{Listen
| filename     =HWW The Lords My Shepherd Crimond.ogg
| title        =The tune "Crimond"
| alt          =
| description  =
| pos = left
}}
{{clear left}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin}}
{{Cite book |last=Henderson |first=John Alexander |url=http://archive.org/details/aberdeenshireepihend |title=Aberdeenshire epitaphs and inscriptions : with historical, biographical, genealogical, and antiquarian notes / by John A. Henderson |date=1907 |publisher=Aberdeen : Printed for the Subscribers, 1907 |others=University of Guelph Library|chapter=Crimond|pages=70–77}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[https://cos.churchofscotland.org.uk/church_finder/profile.php?property_id=19588 Crimond Church Profile on the Church of Scotland website]

[[Category:Churches in Aberdeenshire]]
[[Category:Category A listed buildings in Aberdeenshire]]
[[Category:Listed churches in Scotland]]
[[Category:1812 establishments in Scotland]]
[[Category:Churches completed in 1812]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Buchan]]
[[Category:Gothic Revival church buildings in Scotland]]