Birnie Kirk

The graveyard, symbol stone and archaeological remains under the church have been designated a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland.

BBC News reported on 22 November 2023 that "the 12th Century building is due to close by 2027, as the Church of Scotland undergoes what has been described as 'radical reform' amid falling congregations.

The building will continue to be maintained by the Kirk Session pending its release, a Church of Scotland spokesman said in a statement.

The memorial, designed to look like the gable end of a chapel, contains two inlaid plaques which lie below a Romanesque arch.

There are no remnants of the earlier church, but the oval churchyard suggests the shape of am early Christian enclosure.

In 1997, the scheduled monument was updated to include the symbol stone located within the burial enclosure and the archaeological remains lying under the church.

By agreement with Elgin Kirk Session, since January 2024 it has been used by the Roman Catholic Church's Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham[5] for weekly Evening Prayer and monthly Mass.

Birnie Kirk, the first Cathedral Church of Moray, built c. 1140