29th December will be the final service in Wick St Fergus Church, formerly Wick Old Parish Church which was united with Wick Bridge Street Church.
The new united church will be called East Caithness Church of Scotland.
Join us in the final service at 11.30 am.
The church building is open from time to time for visitors but here is a brief guide to what you would see during a visit.
The entrance is through glass doors which are engraved with an image depicting Jesus with his disciples on the shores of Lake Galilee. The engraving was created by Denis Mann, one time Chief Engraver with Caithness Glass and engraver of the Mastermind trophies.
This traditional Scottish Church was opened in 1830 and altered in 1993/94 to form the 'Arena' Sanctuary upstairs. The ceiling is reckoned to be the widest unsupported ceiling in the north.
There is a very old stone font to the left of the Sanctuary floor and a white stone one to the right. (1934) A third, small, wooden font can be seen to the left of the Communion Table. The latter is a memorial to those lost in WW2 from Wick Bridge Street Church.
The Communion Table and its three chairs were made locally by McEwen's Furniture Factory. (1912)
The Pipe Organ was made by Wadsworth, Manchester and was installed in 1883. It has been rebuilt twice but has never been altered.
The large stained glass window to the left of the pipe organ is in memory of the heritors' (landowners) of the church. They had to build and maintain a church large enough to hold everyone in the Parish.
The stained glass window on the right of the pipe organ is in memory of Doctor Lillie, a minister of this church. He became minister here after the 'Disruption'. (1843)
In front of this window lies the stone effigy of St Fergus, the patron saint of Wick
The wall hanging in the northwest most corner of the sanctuary includes the names of all those lost from the Wick area in WW1.
Around the Sanctuary there are 10 windows with a stained glass panel in them. These were installled in the 1950s and 1960s.
On the east wall of the Sanctuary are memorials to those lost from the Merchant Navy, Wick Old Parish Church in WW1 and WW2, Wick Congregational Church. In addition there is a memorial with 190 names of those lost when HMS Exmouth was torpedoes off Wick in January 1940.
Downstairs the building is divided into the vestry, creche, kitchen, large hall (which has 4 stained glass window panels) and the small hall. The communion table from Wick Bridge Street Church and which is engraved with the names of those lost in WW1 is in the small hall and around the walls of the small hall are photographs of previous ministers from 1840.
