Chapel of Garioch is a historic parish in Aberdeenshire, close to Inverurie. Its parish church stands on a much older religious site, but the building seen today is principally an early nineteenth-century church rather than a surviving medieval chapel.
A church on an older religious site
According to the Aberdeenshire Council Historic Environment Record, the present Chapel of Garioch Parish Church opened on 10 January 1813. It was built on the site of an earlier chapel and church, with later additions completed in 1923 and 1968.
The older religious history of the site helps explain the name Chapel of Garioch, while the surviving building records how the parish continued to develop in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Architecture and setting
The church is built from rough ashlar red granite and has pointed-arch windows with Gothic detailing. Its churchyard contains gravestones dating from the late eighteenth century, while a seventeenth-century gateway survives in the western boundary wall.
The surrounding Garioch countryside also places the church within a landscape shaped by farming, settlement and the long history of Aberdeenshire.
Planning a visit
This remains a working church and should be visited respectfully. Access arrangements can change, so anyone hoping to see the interior should check locally before travelling.
For broader destination ideas and privately planned journeys across the country, explore our private luxury tours of Scotland. This link is for trip-planning inspiration and does not imply that Chapel of Garioch is included in a particular itinerary.
