Undiscovered Scotland

 

St Aidan's Roman Catholic Church can be found on the west side of the main road into Aviemore from the south, very close to Aviemore Youth Hostel. The white painted building stands slightly above and back from the road, partly screened by trees. Parking is available immediately in front of the church.

Visitors to the church find themselves in a friendly and welcoming space roughly aligned from north-west to south-east. Entry is via a brick porch, which brings you into the south-east end of the church. This end is dominated by the large main window, whose nicely coloured and decorated panes look very much like a shop window from the outside. There is no such illusion from the inside, where the design can be fully appreciated.

The pews all face north-west, towards the main altar at the far end of the church. Set within the roof above the "nave" is a large tapestry celebrating "Our Lady of the Snows", a highly appropriate depiction of St Mary for a church set within a ski resort.

As you reach the north-west end of St Aidan's it becomes clear that what initially looked line a simple rectangular church is actually T-shaped, with side aisles facing in towards the altar. A particularly nice touch at this end of the church, and elsewhere, are the beautiful stained glass windows.

St Aidan's serves a parish which extends for some distance around Aviemore, and forms part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aberdeen.

The church was dedicated by the Bishop of Aberdeen on 8 September 1952. A hint about its origins can be found in a nearby enclosure, which is home to the grave of Patricia Anastasia Keogh who, her headstone records, "built this church". The lady in question died on 24 September 1956, aged 70. She had served with distinction as a nurse in Gallipoli and Palestine during the First World War.