Mid Street, King Street and Fraser Street

Cross the road from the Market Cross to Mid Street to continue your tour amongst Beauly's back streets. But before you walk up Mid Street look away from the Square and you may catch a glimpse of the high slate covered roof of St. Mary's Catholic Church. St. Mary's was built in 1864 and is reputedly only the second Catholic Church built in Scotland following the reformation, the first being nearby at Eskadale.

As you stroll up Mid Street you can clearly see how the village was laid out in a formal planned grid pattern. Although the appearance of the buildings is more informal than the somewhat regimented appearance of those on the Square, the streets still run in straight lines and intersect each other at right angles. Scotland's long tradition of planned towns and villages dates back to the Royal Burghs created by David I in the 12th century. Scots subsequently laid out many of the cities and towns of America, New Zealand and Australia where they replicated this grid pattern in cities such as Savannah, Dunedin and Melbourne. 

Continue up mid street crossing King Street, Rose Street and Fraser Street and turn left past the wooden houses, just before the road ends at a grass path.

In years past these back streets would have been home to many artisans. There are records of bakers, saddlers, barbers, clock repairers and lots of other businesses trading in these narrow streets. Nowadays it is a quiet residential area.

As you come to the junction of this unnamed road and Croyard Road you will come to Beauly Church, a Church of Scotland Protestant church. It was built in the late 1870's just a few years after St Mary's was built. If you look down Croyard Road, back towards the Square on the other side of the road you may see a low building with red painted woodwork. This is the Beauly Free Church (Continuing). The Free Church, the Free Church (Continuing) and the Free Presbyterian Church were formed at various times since the reformation as disputes on doctrine, church administration and forms of worship within the Protestant denominations led to the creation of new churches with different forms of worship.

But our tour will take you up Croyard Road away from the Square. On the right you will see a church, now converted to flats, which closed when it amalgamated with the Church of Scotland. You will then pass some fine Victorian villas and cottages as well as Beauly Primary School on the left. Keep going straight out of the village and you will soon be surrounded by fields on either side.