Did you know…
Christians have worshipped on this spot for well over a thousand years.
Written records only go back for 500 years when a smaller church, St Mary’s, was built here. It was probably of a similar size and design as Kinkell church.
However, it seems that this spot, near the River Don, was one of the first places the Gospel was preached in Aberdeenshire. Monks from Iona, led by St Machar, formed a settlement at what is now St Machar Cathedral, Aberdeen in the 6th century. From there they sailed up the Don and stopped at good mooring points, which gradually became regular preaching places. This was easier than travelling by foot, in an area where wolves and wild boar roamed the forests.
By 721 the Picts had a bishop, Fergus, who travelled to Rome to attend the Council of Rome.