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Summary

Description

Duncan McMillan, 1873-1874. Early gothic, basilica-plan church; gallery additions D and J R McMillan, 1896. Tooled coursed grey granite with finely finished margins. Base course; contrasting pale grey granite band courses; pointed-arched openings; long and short quoins; eaves course.

N (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: near-symmetrical; gabled; gableted 1883 porch advanced to centre of ground floor, moulded pointed-arch supported on dwarf columns with stiff-leaf capitals, decoratively glazed trefoil piercing tympanum, 2-leaf boarded timber door with decorative hinges set in shouldered doorway with chevroned lintel; small windows flanking porch to left and right; large rose window centred in gablehead above with cusped geometric sandstone tracery; stone finial to apex. Roof swept down over slightly stepped back aisle bay to left, bipartite window with roundel above. Square-plan, 3-stage tower adjoining to outer right, bipartite window to centre and right return, shouldered doorway in relieving arch with boarded timber door to left return at 1st stage, window to each elevation of 2nd stage, louvred bipartite opening to each elevation of 3rd stage, gableted clock faces between pinnacles at base of octagonal stone spire, small triangular lucarnes with trefoil details half way up spire, gilded crucifix to apex.

W ELEVATION: asymmetrical; tower adjoining to outer left, regularly spaced bipartite windows in buttressed bays, predominantly obscured by church hall.

S ELEVATION: semi-circular apse to centre of gabled chancel, 2 pairs of bipartite windows, window flanking apse to left and right, blind bull's-eye opening set in gablehead; gabled wing advanced to outer left with stone steps to door glazed door.

E ELEVATION: 4 buttressed bays to right with bipartite to each, gabled 2-bay transept advanced to left, gableted porch to centre of ground floor with window to centre, shouldered doorway to right return with boarded timber door, tall lancet windows flanking to left and right, bull's-eye opening set in gablehead, ironwork finial to apex.

Predominantly timber framed leaded diamond-pane windows, stained glass to rose window and S windows. Grey slate roof with tiled ridge. Coped stone skews with simple skewputts. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: pitch pine polygonal section wagon roof spanning aisless nave, semi-circular cross braces and diagonally boarded panelling, openwork cusped panels at intersections; apse behind chancel arch with diagonally boarded panelled pine ceiling with quatrefoil cornice and pendant. Galleried: side galleries added by D and J R McMillan, 1896, in identical style, supported on elaborate cast-iron columns with mannered stiff-leaf capitals, paired timber brackets, chevroned lower margins; quatrefoil panelling to gallery fronts. Pulpit centred at apse, flight of steps to left and right with decorative cast-iron balusters. 1903 organ in original position to centre of apse. WW1 communion table.

CHURCH HALL: 1885, extended in 1894 and 1961; adjoining church to W. Random granite rubble with ladder snecking; stop-chamfered angles to N. Single storey crenellated entrance porch to E between church and hall, 2-leaf boarded timber door with iron hinges and letterbox fanlight. Predominantly 3-light timber windows. Grey slate roof with triangular ventilators to W. Flat-roofed harled additions to S.

GATEPIERS AND BOUNDARY WALLS: 20th century low granite walls with flat coping, railings removed; rough-faced granite gatepiers to NW with pyramidal caps.

Statement of Special Interest

The tower and spire of Ferryhill South Church form an important part of the Aberdeen townscape. The Church is now Church of Scotland, but was built originally for the United Free Church, costing ?5,500. The need for a church was first raised in 1872, and involved Mr William Henderson (later Sir) of Devanha House, who, like McMillan was an elder. The church was completed in 1874, at a cost of ?5500. Duncan McMillan was the Session Clerk of the new congregation from 1874 to 1927. The quickly increasing size of the congregation meant that the gallery had to be extended, and then side galleries added. Despite his involvement in the addition of the gallery wings, with his son John Ross McMillan, Duncan McMillan felt that they made the church interior too dark. The porch, added in 1883, was a gift from Sir William Henderson.

References

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