Snecked masonry in the walls of Tweedmouth Memorial Chapel at the Royal Northern Infirmary, Inverness, Scotland
ROYAL NORTHERN INFIRMARY CHAPEL: (TWEEDMOUTH MEMORIAL CHAPEL) Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth (1820 – 1894) was a Scottish businessman and a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1853 until 1880, when he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Tweedmouth. He was also a noted dog breeder and created the golden retriever breed at his estate at Guisachan, near Cannich. He married Isabella Weir Hogg, daughter of Sir James Weir Hogg, in 1848, and he loved the Highlands. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Marjoribanks,_1st_Baron_Twee... He passed away at Bath on 4th March 1894. To commemorate his love of the Highlands, and to provide something practical as a memorial, his widow, Isabella, Dowager Lady Tweedmouth, made a bequest for a memorial chapel in May, 1896. Such chapel would be sited at the principal hospital for the Highlands, the Northern Infirmary, at Ness Walk, Inverness. The architects were the firm of Ross and MacBeth, Inverness, Principal in that firm was Alexander Ross, LLD, who had designed a great many fine buildings in Inverness including St Andrew's Cathedral - but it would appear that it was the other partner, Robert John MacBeth, who was the main player in this project as Tweedmouth Chapel was one of the buildings cited in MacBeth’s nomination for Fellowship of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1906. The Memorial Chapel was completed in early 1898 and opened by Lady Tweedmouth that May. As part of the opening ceremony there was Dedication by Presbyterian, Catholic & Episcopal clergy, since the building had been designed for ecumenical use – the first such building in the country Scottish Association of Chaplains in Healthcare (SACH) News Sheet No 3, March 1999 www.sach.org.uk/news3.htm Being "the earliest example of purpose-built ecumenical worship space in Scotland ....it has three sanctuary areas for Reformed, Roman Catholic and Episcopalian worship." www.scotlandschurchestrust.org.uk/church/tweedmouth-memor... Despite the harmonious and ecumenical nature of its dedication, less than three weeks had elapsed from the opening when one local minister wrote to the Inverness Courier newspaper to protest at the chapel being opened to Catholics. This resulted in a sharp comment from the editor against the correspondent’s remarks!! As regards the description of the building, the following article appeared in “Building News” (p.814) of 10 June 1898 : “INVERNESS - The Tweedmouth Memorial Chapel, erected by the Dowager Lady Tweedmouth in the grounds of the Northern Infirmary, was opened on Saturday. Built of dressed freestone, the chapel is designed in a Late Pointed phase of Scotch Gothic. It is cruciform in design, with a steep-pitched roof covered with grey slates, and is surmounted in the centre by a fleche of oak, and slated, rising to 50 feet above the ground. The south window has three lights and tracery, and the windows in the two transept gables are triple lancets ; while a rose window, about 10ft. in diameter, gives light from the north end. The nave is 44 feet by 18 feet, whilst in either side there is a transept, separated from the main area by wrought-iron gates and curtains, for use by worshippers of the Roman and Anglican communions. The whole of the furnishings are in oak. The inside walls are of polished freestone, and the windows are all deeply moulded, the jambs and mullions being finished with shafts of grey Kilkenny marble and carved capitals. The roof is also in oak, panelled, and the arched ribs rising from the carved couples divide the interior into three bays. The floor of the chapel is laid with oak parquetry, stained and polished. A corridor. 9 feet wide, connects the church with the infirmary. Messrs. Ross and MacBeth, Inverness, were the architects “ www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/ As is the (frontage of) the Infirmary building itself, the chapel is a “B” listed building, and the listing is quoted as:- “Tweedmouth Memorial Chapel: Ross & MacBeth, 1896-8. Cruciform, lancet style, snecked rubble; linked to south gable of main Infirmary building by corridor with transverse porch. 3-bay flanks with transepts projecting from centre bays; outer windows paired lancets; triple stepped lancets at gables of transepts; triple stepped traceried lancets at south gable; rose window at north gable; angle buttresses. Internally, transepts designed for use as RC and Episcopal chapels; roof of panelled oak; furnishings of oak.” www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/sc-35332-ness-walk-royal... The Northern Infirmary (opened 1803, given prefix Royal by King George V in September 1930) is no longer in use as such - the façade remains, now fronting the headquarters of the University of the Highlands and Islands. The "RNI Chapel" however remains in use as a Hospital Chapel, since a new RNI - a Community Hospital - has been erected adjacent with the former Infirmary grounds. Over the years the Chapel has been used for a considerable number of weddings, many being health service staff, and more than a few funerals. Although a splendid building, with a proud history, the exterior of the Tweedmouth Memorial Chapel clearly needs URGENT attention as the sandstone door surround is rapidly eroding, and the tubular pillars are crumbling, which surely makes it unsafe. The condition has clearly (and very obviously!) been deteriorating over quite some period of years - but hopefully this neglect can be addressed sooner rather than later, so that the chapel can continue to serve Inverness as it has done for the past 116 years.