History of St. Columba’s Church, Portree
St. Columba’s Church was in use by 1884, and was consecrated by Canon MacLean in 1891 on his return from Assyria.
Originally a corrugated iron hall was used as an Episcopal Church at Portree in 1881,
when the Revd. L.F. Catcheside and the congregation first gathered as a mission.
The building was removed to Duror by Bishop Chinnery-Haldane in 1886, to be used as a school.
The school was financed entirely by Bishop Chinnery-Haldane, and after his death and
the subsequent closure of the school, the building was moved to Kentallen as a private hall,
where it remains to this day, 2013.
The church was built in 1882 to the design of Alexander Ross, as a memorial to
John Fielder MacKarness, Bishop of Oxford 1870-1899.
As early as 1892, repairs had to be carried out on the Tower.
The Tower provided a constant list of repairs
requiring attention and expense, and was finally taken down in 1953.
The Rectory, linked to the church building was added in 1891
