Fearn Abbey – known as "The Lamp of the North" – has its origins in one of Scotland's oldest pre-Reformation church buildings.

[5] The most important addition to the building was the south wing, a chapel dedicated to St Michael, which was probably erected by Abbot Finlay McFead (d. 1485).

[6] A small monumental chapel was erected, probably in the sixteenth century, against the southeast angle of the church, blocking two of the windows.

[8] The original Fearn Abbey was established during the reign of Alexander II by Premonstratensians from Whithorn Priory, a monastery of white canons, who provided the first abbot.

The Abbey was originally settled by Fearchar, 1st Earl of Ross, in the 1220s but was moved ten miles to the southeast in 1238 during the time of the second abbot, Malcolm of Nigg.

He is thought to have held the position as a secular charge since he sat in Parliament in 1560 and voted for the abolition of Catholicism in Scotland.

[12] Following the Reformation, the Abbey remained in use as a parish church, but disaster struck in 1742 when the flagstone roof collapsed during a service, killing nearly fifty members of the congregation.

The congregation of Fearn Abbey take part in outreach work in the local area and have active links to the Church of Scotland's World Mission projects in Ekwendeni, Malawi, and the Tabeetha School in Israel.