18 August 2026

In 1961, the Church of Scotland was gifted Carberry Tower. It was  redesigned  as a youth leadership training and conference centre. In 1965, a chapel was built in the parkland. It was  designed by the architect David Hermand Reid of Ian Lindsay and Partners.

It had several remarkable features. Two-thirds of the building was outside in the parkland for the chapel was fronted on the east wall  entirely by glass. Whilst you were in the chapel, you could see the grass, the trees and the whole natural environment. It was drawn into the worship space.

In addition, the design was a mixture of the old and new. The stone was similar to that used to build the estate cottages and outbuildings. Inside there was a wooden baluster screen which ran across the full width of the chapel underneath the gallery. It was a reference to the baluster screen at Falkland Palace.

My first visit to the Carberry Chapel made a big impact. Colin Day was the Warden. He told us about the construction of the chapel and its resonances with Scandanavian buildings. He also told us that they had deliberately fitted this modern design with seventeenth century box pews which came from another kirk.

Here the old and the new were combined together to raise questions about the nature of liturgical space. The eighteenth and the twentieth centuries were tied together and we could see that we belonged to  a long  lineage. I remember taking young people there and seeing the fun they had opening and shutting the box pew doors.

When you settled into the chapel for a service, your eyes were not only drawn out  into the natural world beyond the glass but to a  wooden cross set in the grass. It took the place of a cathedral’s high altar. At night, when darkness fell and we gathered for worship, the cross was illuminated. Never to be forgotten.