Welcome
St Mary’s Eskadale
The Lovat Private Chapel — a place of worship, of pilgrimage, and of Highland heritage, secluded amid the beauty of Strathglass.
A Highland chapel of grandeur
“A place fit for would-be kings.”
Few places can match the uniqueness and tranquillity of the rural Highland Church of St Mary’s Eskadale. Take the low road to Struy, a narrow winding road along where the River Beauly flows. Suddenly, on a hillock, a building appears — dazzling in its white-washed harling, set with many-faceted windows — built on a scale of grandeur unknown in the Highlands of its time.
Built in 1827 by the 14th Lord Lovat, Chief of the Clan Fraser, only 34 years after the Catholic Relief Act, the chapel is cared for today by the Eskadale Trust and the Lovat family, and is served by the parish of St Mary’s, Beauly.
Explore
A church with a story to tell
History
From Penal Times to a Highland chapel of grandeur — nearly two centuries of faith.
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Exterior & Interior
The whitewashed harling, the rose window of P. P. Pugin, the sculpted altarpiece.
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Restoration
The two-year project that returned the chapel to its full glory, opened June 2022.
Read more →Glimpses
The chapel today
Support the chapel
Help us keep St Mary’s standing
The continued care of St Mary’s Eskadale relies on the generosity of friends near and far. Every gift — large or small — helps preserve this place of prayer for future generations.