Description

Alexander Ross, 1874-5, tower added, T S Peace, 1886. Hall church with 3-stage, pyramidal-roofed, castellated tower abutting gable to right with pointed-arched entrance at 1st stage; single storey link to rectory to right (S), (not included in listing). Squared and snecked rubble with polished sandstone ashlar dressings. Base course; heavy lintel course to entrance; string course dividing stages of tower; eaves course to main church. Pointed-arched openings; hood-mould over main tripartite window; chamfered reveals to openings; moulded reveals to main tripartite; long and short margins; long and short quoins.

W (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: tripartite window with taller central light to main gable; cinquefoil window within circular recess to finialled gablehead above. 2-leaf boarded doors to W and S elevations at 1st stage of tower; trefoil-headed window at each stage above.

N (SIDE) ELEVATION: 4-bay with trefoil-headed bipartite window in each bay.

Stained glass, leaded windows. Purple Welsh slate roof; grey slate to spire; stone ridge; stone skews; roll-moulded skewputt to NW angle; uPVC rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: open braced kingpost roof with round-arched braces on simple ashlar corbels; boarded timber dado; carved timber chancel screen with open upper sections, (1897); encaustic tiled chancel with floreate cast-iron supports to timber rail; timber-panelled and carved reredos (circa 1920) with blind gothic fretwork to upper panels; stone arch to chancel's N housing organ by G M Holdich, 1881; 2-seat sedilia to chancel's S wall; timber pews; ogee-arched tabernacle to E; carved timber hexagonal pulpit; hexagonal ashlar sandstone pedestal to stone font; complete stained glass window scheme: W window, Heaton, Butler & Bayne, 1931, Faith Hope and Charity; S wall, various saints, circa 1894-1900; N wall, Our Lord with Little Children, 1880; other windows (SS Paul and James, Matthew and Mark, 1883-1888), James Balantine & Son, (SS Gabriel and Michael, after 1906), signed, A Ballantine and Gardiner; late 19th century window to chancel.

BOUNDARY WALLS, GATEPIERS AND RAILINGS: low squared rubble walls with ridged ashlar cope along W (Dundas Crescent) boundary; decorative gothic cast-iron railings; square-plan, stop chamfered piers with string course below shallow cap.

Statement of Interest

Alexander Ross of Inverness was a prolific architect of northern Episcopal churches. The entrance porch was extended to form a castellated tower in honour of Archdeacon J B Craven who was author of A History of the Church in Orkney. The church contains two aumbrys from the original St Olaf's Church, woodwork from Bishop Graham's Episcopal gallery and throne in St Magnus Cathedral, and a rough stone font from St Mary's Chapel at Swandro in Rousay.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17827847

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)