Search churches in Aberdeen
Find churches across Aberdeen and the north east of Scotland.
Aberdeen's historic churches
- St Machar's Cathedral, Old Aberdeen: a fortified granite cathedral by the Don, founded on a site chosen, tradition says, where the river bends like a bishop's crook. Its twin west spires and heraldic ceiling of 1520 are unique in Scotland, and the Church of Scotland congregation continues Sunday worship beneath them.
- The Kirk of St Nicholas: Aberdeen's "Mither Kirk" off Union Street, divided into East and West kirks after the Reformation, with a carillon of 48 bells and centuries of civic history.
- St Andrew's Cathedral, King Street: the Scottish Episcopal cathedral, forever linked with Samuel Seabury, consecrated in Aberdeen in 1784 as the first bishop of the American Episcopal Church.
- St Mary's Cathedral, Huntly Street: the Roman Catholic cathedral, its granite spire rising above the west end of the city centre.
- King's College Chapel: the crowned tower of 1500 in Old Aberdeen, still used by the university for worship and one of Scotland's finest medieval interiors.
Church life in the north east
The Church of Scotland remains the largest presence, with parishes across the city, though here as elsewhere congregations have joined forces in recent years. Episcopal and Catholic communities are long established, the latter strengthened by Polish, African and Indian families drawn by the energy industry. Aberdeen's international workforce shows on Sundays: the city holds Nigerian, Ghanaian, Chinese and Eastern European congregations, alongside Baptist, Methodist and independent evangelical churches and lively student ministries serving two universities. The Salvation Army citadel on the Castlegate, a granite castle in its own right, remains a working corps and one of Union Street's most distinctive buildings.
Browse Aberdeen churches in the directory
See every church we list in Aberdeen on the city page, or browse the wider council area on our Aberdeen county page.
Practical notes for visitors
- Church of Scotland services are usually at 11am; Catholic and Episcopal churches offer earlier and evening options.
- St Machar's is open to visitors most days; combine it with a walk through cobbled Old Aberdeen and King's College.
- First buses link Old Aberdeen, the city centre and the west end churches; most central churches are walkable from Union Street.
- North Sea weather changes fast; churches here are used to dripping visitors and greet them with tea.
Frequently asked questions
Why does St Machar's look like a fortress?
Built in unforgiving granite during unsettled centuries, the cathedral was given massive walls and twin machicolated towers. The result is one of Scotland's most distinctive churches, part kirk, part castle.
What is Aberdeen's link to the American church?
In 1784 Scottish bishops consecrated Samuel Seabury in Aberdeen as the first bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, a debt American Anglicans still acknowledge to the Scottish Episcopal Church.