Logie Easter
Associated Chapels: (none known).
Parish Church: OS Ref: NGR NH 750761 H.E.S. No: NH77NW 9 Dedication: (unknown)
This parish, the name of which in Gaelic is Lagaidh ' a hollow', is chiefly composed of the upper part of the strath of the water of Rorie, named in Gaelic Abher (the river), and latterly known as the water of Balnagown.
Also known as Logie-Mechet, the parsonage was probably a prebend of Ross by 1274, it then being separately assessed from the vicarage, while it certainly had become one by 1363 and thereafter continued as such up to the time of the Reformation.
The old church used to sit in a hollow site at nearby Marybank where its ruins are to be seen. Its walls are practically intact, with the exception of the south wall, which is broken down. This is the ancient parish church whose dedication has not yet been identified. However, the name 'Marybank' points to a possible dedication to the Blessed Virgin.
The body of the church is a somewhat narrow parallelogram, from the northern side of which projects a gabled wing. The building is thought to be pre-Reformation, although the north wing appears to be of considerably later date than the rest of the church. The unenclosed grave-yard contains many stones. One of them is dated 1593, but the date is not thought to be original. The church has been in disuse since 1767, but the surrounding burial ground is still in use.
In more medern times this church is as generally described above, but only the W and N gables now stand to roof height, ie. c.6.0m. The other walls vary in height from 0.5 to 2.0m, and are up to 0.8m thick.
About a dozen grave slabs can still be seen in the burial ground, but none have legible dates.
In 1456 Alexander Suthyrland of Dunbeth bequeathed to a priest to say mass perpetually in the canonry of Ross, for himself and his wife, 6 marks yearly from the lands of Effer (or Ester) Kyndeiss {Logie Easter}.
In 1584 King James VI confirmed a grant by Master Thomas Hay rector of Logie, given with consent of Alexander bishop of Ross and the dean and canons of the cathedral, to John Irving burgess of Rosemarkie and Margaret Cumming his wife, and to John's male heirs, of the croft of the rectory of Logie lying in the canonry of Ross (showing the church to have been a prebend of the cathedral).
