Our Story
The story of SALU goes back a long way. Christian faith has shaped this corner of Moray for centuries. Tradition takes us to the sixth century and to St Moluag, a contemporary of St Columba, whose missionary work helped form the first Christian communities here.
And the parish we belong to today brings together three stories — Lhanbryde, Urquhart, and St Andrew’s — each with its own heritage, now shared as one.
Urquhart
The story of Urquhart takes us back to 1124, when King David I founded the Priory of Urquhart as a Benedictine cell of Dunfermline Abbey. The church in Urquhart was subsequently dedicated to St Margaret, wife of Scotland’s King Malcolm III, who was buried at Dunfermline and remembered with deep respect.
In 1237, we have a record telling us that the church at Urquhart had, for as long as people could remember, been providing worship and the sacraments for the people of the surrounding area. The Priory continued for around three centuries.
But by 1453, its fortunes had changed. A papal Bull of Pope Nicholas V incorporated the Priory into Pluscarden. There were only two monks left at Urquhart, compared with six at Pluscarden, and because Pluscarden had the better buildings, Urquhart was left to decay.
The final farewell came on 10 June 1454 in the Parish Church, when a “transumpt” — a certified copy — of two charters was obtained in the presence of John Bonale, Prior of Urquhart, Bartholomew, a monk, and John, son of Alan, a priest. And then the monks were gone.
For the next century there is remarkably little surviving material about church life in Urquhart. The record becomes almost silent until after the Reformation of 1560.
When the records reappear, however, we find that the church community was still very much alive.
In 1567, the Rev Robert Keith was minister of the united parishes of Urquhart, Lhanbryde and Essill. In 1574, Urquhart and Lhanbryde formed one charge under the Rev Patrick Balfour, with Rothes added two years later. By 1580, Urquhart had once again become a separate charge.
The Kirk Session records of Urquhart date from 1647. They give glimpses of ordinary church life — ministers, schoolmasters, worship, disputes, storms, and the practical challenges of keeping a community together.
In 1660, for example, the Rev James Park was deposed after a particularly turbulent ministry. At one point he had debarred 600 people from Communion, leaving only about 80 attending.
Even the weather could disrupt worship. In 1746, the Session recorded simply: “No sermon the day being stormy.”
The church continued through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but fell into disrepair early in the nineteenth century and a new church was built at Gashill in 1843.
Around the same time, the remnants of the original church were used to build a new Free Church of Scotland at the east end of the village.
In 1938, following the 1929 national union of the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church, the two local churches were united to form a single Church of Scotland congregation in Urquhart at Gashill.
In the mid‑1940s, the Free Church and the manse were sold, and the proceeds were used to refurbish St Margaret’s Church Hall. Two beautiful stained‑glass windows from the Free Church, together with a Celtic Cross believed to have come from the Priory founded in Urquhart, were incorporated into the building.
When the Parish Church at Gashill closed in 1988, St Margaret’s Hall continued as the place of worship in Urquhart.
In 2025, following the sale of St Margaret’s Hall, the Celtic Cross was gifted to Pluscarden Abbey.
St Andrew’s and Lhanbryde
The story of St Andrew’s and Lhanbryde is just as deeply rooted.
Lhanbryde, first mentioned in 1225, takes its name from the Gaelic Lann Brìghde — the Church of St Bridget. A church has stood from at least that date, dedicated to St Bride, patron of scholars and artisans, on the site now known as Walkers Crescent. It served the community for centuries before falling into decline and being demolished in 1796.
St Andrew’s Church’s story begins a little later. Named after Scotland’s patron saint, it was likely founded in the 14th or 15th century at Kirkhill. It served as a mensal parish, meaning the income from its lands and local rents went directly to the Bishop of Moray rather than to a local minister or congregation.
Yet despite that status, the building itself faced periods of neglect throughout its long history.
A dramatic incident occurred in 1727, leading to the church’s destruction by fire. It is said that a misfired shot from a boy hunting doves struck the thatched roof and set it alight. It was rebuilt, but new challenges soon emerged.
By the eighteenth century, one of the most practical difficulties facing the congregation was simply getting to church. The River Lossie stood in the way.
At the time of the 1745 Rebellion, the congregation was still using a boat. In 1745, the Kirk Session recorded the price of the boat as £11 16s — and, on the same occasion, a rather unexpected 24 shillings for repairing the stool of repentance.
By 1750, the congregation decided that a bridge would be better. People contributed £60, recognising that it would make it easier not only to attend worship but also to travel about their everyday business.
A timber bridge was built. The recorded cost in 1751 was £149 15s.
Then, in 1757, it fell.
But they did not give up. Plans were made for a stronger bridge with a stone middle pillar. In 1776, the bridge was rebuilt again, this time with iron bands and new stonework.
In 1779, William Leslie was admitted to St Andrew’s. When the minister of Lhanbryde died in 1781, these two parishes were united under Leslie the following year.
The union was not universally welcomed; one contemporary letter records that it “gives no great satisfaction among the parishioners and if they could prevent it they would”. Nevertheless, the two churches eventually gave way to a new arrangement.
A new church was erected roughly halfway between them to serve the newly formed parish. Built around 1790, the St Andrew’s–Lhanbryd Church stood midway between the sites of the two original churches — St Andrew’s at Kirkhill and Lhanbryde in the village. That building became the heart of the St Andrew’s–Lhanbryd congregation.
William Leslie himself served as minister for more than 65 years. From his manse at Darkland, he dealt with the problems of both rich and poor, even defending people in court. He also left another small mark on our history: spelling was apparently not his strong point. To him we are indebted for the spelling “Lhanbryd”, which he adopted in 1791 and which appears in the Kirk Session minutes from 1796 as “St Andrews‑Lhanbryd”. He was the man who dropped the “e” — and got away with it.
The building itself continued to evolve. Around 1930, a new vestry and session room were added. The hall was developed over the following decades, and in 1979 a ‘Father Willis’ organ (built 1881)— originally from Maryhill House and later at Elgin Baptist Church — was rebuilt in the church by Mr Sandy Edmonstone. In 2004 the organ was dismatled by Paul Miiler, our organ tuner and put into storeage as it needed considerable repair. The organ eventually was restored and found a new home at St Michael the Archangel, Shalfleet, Isle of Wight. The organ was replaced with a C6 Protege Chamber Series Allen Digital organ gifted by the Barr Cochrane family.
Then, in November 1988, St Andrews‑Lhanbryd and Urquhart became one united charge, following the departure of Rev David Lunan from St Andrews‑Lhanbryd and the retirement of Rev Stanley Forsyth from Urquhart.
After the union, the church and manse at Urquhart were sold, while St Margaret’s Hall was retained as a place of worship in Urquhart.
The church formerly known as St Andrews‑Lhanbryd became St Andrews‑Lhanbryd and Urquhart Parish Church.
Next Chapter
There is a pattern running through all of this.
Shaped by fire. Church buildings have changed. Spellings have shifted. Parishes have been joined and separated. Bridges have fallen down. Boats have been repaired. Ministers have come and gone. Communities have faced storms, disagreements, disruption and uncertainty.
Yet again and again, people found a way to continue worshipping, serving, and caring for their community. Because the church has never simply been a building.
It is people — people who have inherited faith, shared it, struggled with it, lived it, and passed it on.
We are not the first generation to face change. And we will not be the last.
And now it is our turn.
We stand at another point of transition — not the first, and not the last — but ours. A moment when the story of SALU continues, not by holding on to buildings that no longer serve the mission, but by asking where God is calling us now.
The Moray Presbytery Mission Plan of April 2022 recognised this clearly:
“While the congregation of St Andrew’s Lhanbryd and Urquhart (SALU) has a strong sense of call to mission in Lhanbryde itself, its building is a considerable distance away – it is no longer in the right place. Therefore, that building should not be retained, enabling the congregation to explore creative ways to be more missionally active in Lhanbryde village.”
This is simply the next chapter — shaped, as every chapter has been, by faith, commitment, and generosity.
The story of SALU has never been about one building. It has always been about people finding a way.
And now the way ahead is ours to shape.