Mount Zion Church, Church Road, Quarriers Village, Kilmacolm, Inverclyde

Description

1888, Robert Alexander Bryden, with later additions and alterations circa 1900 and circa 1910. Gothic 7-bay asymmetric-plan church with 5-stage square ogee-roofed Baronial clock tower; 2-bay 2-stage transept extension to NW only (c1910); 2-stage gallery to NE (nave extended c1900); single storey offices to SW. Base course; 1st floor string course; eaves course. Buttresses dividing bays; finialled gables. Stone mullioned and transomed tripartite cusped windows; geometric and cusped windows in 2-stage galleries. Squared and tooled sandstone with ashlar margins; bull-faced sandstone to base course.

SE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: 6 bays with windows recessed within segmental-arched

surrounds; buttresses with carved foliate motifs in circular panels. 2-stage gabled bay to right with segmental-arched ground floor window; pointed-arched 1st floor window within labelstopped hoodmould.

NW (REAR) ELEVATION: 3 bays plus 2-stage gabled bay to left (all as SE elevation). 2-storey transept extension to right; 2 bays in re-entrant angle with segmental-arched ground windows, pointed-arched to upper floor; end elevation with 4-part pointed arched window above, 4-part cusped segmental-arched window below; flanking single cusped lancets to ground.

SW ELEVATION: gabled entrance bay with 3-leaf timber boarded door; segmental-arched surround inscribed 'THEY SHALL ABUNDANTLY UTTER THE MEMORY OF THY GREAT GOODNESS'; bipartite

cusped lancet to left. Gabled bay to right with rose window. Advanced symmetrical single storey offices (possibly later): central bay with 4-light window, flanking single windows; flanking gabled bays with bipartites; roll-moulded openings.

NE ELEVATION: gable between flanking buttressed engaged octagonal towers with blind lancets above eaves; segmental-arched entrance with shouldered doorway and timber boarded 2-leaf door; plaque with religious scene and inscription 'PRAISE YE THE LORD'; flanking short lancets all within continuous hoodmould. String course between ground and 1st floor. Pointed-arched traceried window within labelstopped hoodmould.

TOWER: entrance to SE vestibule at base of tower in re-entrant angle; timber 4-leaf boarded door; 2-leaf timber panelled and glazed inner doors; lintel inscribed 'MOUNT ZION' with olive

branches; 3-pane fanlight insegmental-arched surround above; flanking short gabled buttresses. Engaged circular stair turret to SW with red tiled conical roof and single slit window. Each side of tower with 3 louvred round-arched transomed openings, stone balustrading to lower sections, within labelstopped hoodmould; stringcourse below; recessed circular clock above with white face and black Roman numerals. Octagonal ogee-roofed bartizans with arrow slits and water spouts corbelled out at 4th floor; bowed balustrades corbelled out between forming balconies. Segmental-arched surrounds to openings on each side. Ball finials to lead roofs.INTERIOR: outstanding decorative scheme in place. SE vestibule: mosiac tiled floor; dark-stained timber panelling to ? of door height; plastered walls; timber panelled ceiling stencilled with pattern book Gothic design with

quatrefoil and Tudor rose; timber panelled doors with corniced and dentilled overdoors within recessed segmental-arched surrounds. Inner vestibule: encaustic tiled floor; timber panelled lower walls and doors; stone steps down to toilet and rear hall; wall-mounted white marble drinking fountain; oak commemorative plaque; timber panelled ceiling with naturalistic Tynecastle Tapestry (embossed paper); entrance to nave. Nave: ribbed vaulted ceiling with ridge rib; timber diaper-pattern panelling to lower section of walls; foliate carved corbels dividing bays; vaulting shafts with stiff leaf capitals; timber pews; timber-balustraded gallery at NE with gilded inscription; gallery benches with hinged hymn-book shelves; modern partition below gallery contains timber barrel-vaulted area (Quarrier's family pew located at the rear, since removed); pair of 2-leaf timber doors to principal entrance

vestibule. Chancel: Tudor arch containing organ; stained glass rose window behind; Gothic panelled oak base of organ with relief-carved cherub at each end; foliate carved spandrels; panel with gilt cross; shield plaque below dated 1899; integral bench; raised platform (possibly later) with oak church furniture. Transept: (to right of chancel) steep raked gallery with bench pews above partitioned area (now housing museum to Quarrier's Village, pews removed); gallery accessed via wellstair tiled to dado; timber newel post and iron quatrefoil balustrade; mosiac-floored inner hall; plain leaded cusped windows. Principal entrance vestibule: oak 2-leaf panelled entrance door with dentilled cornice; flanking stairs to gallery above with oak newel posts and handrail; wrought-iron balustrade; mosiac-tiled floor; plain tiles with foliate-moulded dado; doors in Gothic surround to toilets in re-entrant with stained glass panels;

bronze low-relief plaque of William Quarrier and wife Isabella inscribed at top.

Stained glass: rose window with central panel depicting dove. Windows to nave and NW gallery in Aesthetic style with painted fruit and flowers. Later stained glass windows to NE gallery with figures representing Prayer, Praise, Hope and Faith.

Original timber sash and case plate glass windows to offices. Grey slate roofs; flat skews; terra cotta ridges, crested to hall at SE and to roof of nave. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

CEMETERY AND BOUNDARY WALLS: cemetery with yew trees

to lower ground N of church bounded by low rubble wall; accessed via stone steps with low coped and iron-railed sandstone wall, sandstone piers; wrought-iron gates. Cemetery contains headstones of William Quarrier, his family and others.

Retaining wall with bronze plaque commemorating children of Quarrier's Homes. Coped sandstone wall with pierced foils, changing to railings and piers, between church and cemetery.

Statement of Interest

Mount Zion Church, still in ecclesiastical use, is the focal point of Quarrier's Village, a purpose-built complex for orphaned or abandoned children created by William Quarrier from 1877. The church's 120-foot clock tower (chimes in operation) is a local landmark. Quarrier commissioned the architect Robert Bryden to build a 'children's city' complete with school, church, post office, dairy, poultry farm, fire station,

workshops and around 50 'cottages'or villas to house the children. Construction of the village continued after the founder's death in 1903.

Quarrier, who had operated orphanages in Glasgow since the early 1870s, was opposed to the institutional nature of the vast impersonal poorhouses in the city. Instead, Cottage Homes were built in his village to house a housemother and housefather who would look after a small group of children in more familial environment. In its countryside setting, the village was a far healthier place to bring up children than in the squalor of Glasgow's East End from whence they came.

Quarrier's Homes was, and still is, a charitable organisation and an anonymous donation of £5000 allowed work to begin on the church. Completed in 1888, with a capacity of 1000, it was extended to the NE shortly afterwards to house 1500. It was further extended when the transept to the NW was added, finally accommodating over 2000 people. The organ was installed in 1899 at a cost of £1000, also gifted. Early photographs show that the church was originally built with an ogee-roofed bellcote on the roof ridge, since removed.

The eclectic interior of the church is typical of the period with Aesthetic style stained glass and furniture, Tudor details, reformed Gothic pattern and carving. The materials employed - oak; mosaic, glazed and encaustic tiles; stained and painted glass; wrought iron - display a wide range of craftsmanship. The exterior presents a Scots Baronial tower. As a whole the style is unified however and the church is a good example of Victorian architecture and design. Quarrier's Village remains well preserved with only a few of the buildings having been altered in some way.

The village as a whole is significant historically in terms of education and development of children in care, and the church, once at the core of teaching, remains a dominant structure in the village.

External Links

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