On your left, look for a low, warm sandstone church with a dark slate roof and a neat little spire perched at the west end, like a hat tipped politely to the street.
This is St Michael and All Angels, an Episcopal church on the River Ness side of town, part of the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness. It began life across the river as a mission chapel called the Holy Spirit in 1886, then in 1903 it “moved” here in spirit-rebuilt on Abban Street and stretched longer, as if the congregation needed more elbow room. Local architects Ross and Macbeth drew up the bones, but then came the master finisher: Ninian Comper. Over the years-1904, 1905, and again in the 1920s-he kept returning like a perfectionist painter, earning this place its nickname: the “Comper Jewel.”
Step closer and imagine the inside: a sturdy waggon-style roof, Comper’s glowing stained glass, and a high altar dressed with dramatic posts and a canopy, all very Anglo-Catholic in feel.
When you’re set, Glen Albyn distillery is a 10-minute walk heading northwest.
