Keep It “Basically as It Is”: Moray’s Nearly 300-Year-Old Red Kirk Approved as a Family Home

• Moray Council approved converting Speymouth Parish Church, the Red Kirk, into a house
• The church was founded in 1732 and held its last service in August 2024
• The plans include a granny annex in ancillary buildings
• External changes are limited to replacement windows

A red sandstone church in Moray that served its community for nearly three centuries will become a family home, the Northern Scot reported in November 2025. Moray Council planners approved the conversion of Speymouth Parish Church, known locally as the Red Kirk.

The church was founded in 1732 and extended in 1884 and 2004. It hosted generations of weddings, baptisms and funerals. The Kirk Session agreed to close it earlier in 2024, and the final service was held in August 2024.

The applicants, Mr and Mrs G Lowe, represented by Plans Plus, plan a house with an integral granny annex. The only external changes will be replacement windows. Inside, the pews will be removed to create an open-plan lounge, dining area and kitchen on the ground floor, while the first-floor seating areas will be levelled to make bedrooms. Ancillary buildings will house a bathroom and the independent annex, and drainage will use the existing septic tank.

The planning statement said that “Internally it is hoped to keep the main church building basically as it is with just the removal of the pews”.

The Red Kirk conversion shows how a rural church can become a multigenerational home while keeping its character. Many Jamaican families live in multigenerational households, and the granny annex model will be familiar. For churches in Jamaica that close rural buildings, a sympathetic sale to a family that keeps the exterior intact can protect a landmark while giving it a new, lived-in future.