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Summary

Description

George Dempster of Greenock, 1803-08. 2-storey 7 x 4-bay classical church of rectangular plan with 3-tier entrance/bell tower of 1884 projecting at centre of NE (principal) front. Roughcast walls with droved ashlar margins and details. Droved ashlar tower. Base course, string and cill courses at 1st floor level, eaves cornice. Margins to windows, doors and corners, projecting cills.

NW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 3 centre bays slightly advanced, pedimented gable with plain acroteria, tower obscuring centre bay. Outer bays slightly advanced, gallery doors at ground with stone steps, blank ashlar plaques above.

TOWER: 3-stage, high base course, stone steps to round-arched entrance door. Band course and cill course at 1st floor with round- arched window at centre. Principal cornice at 2nd floor with subsidiary cornice above. Plain base to upper stage, round-arched openings with louvres, pilasters framing faces and angled corners. Entablature and cornice above with cutaway corners. Parapet with lugged, architraved, panel surmounted by segmental pediment and ball final to each face. Octagonal spires at corners on corniced bases with fluted pilasters, ball finials at apexes.

NW ELEVATION: 4-bay side elevation with gallery stair tower projecting forward in bay to outer left, single round-arched window to landing on SW face. Round-arched windows at 2nd - 3rd bays, regularly spaced. Entrance door at ground floor between bays 3 and 4.

SE ELEVATION: mirrored layout of NW elevation (above).

SW (REAR) ELEVATION: symmetrical, 4 bays, with round-arched windows at ground and 1st floor of outer bays. Large round-arched windows to inner bays. Single storey wing projecting at ground floor from 2nd bay with 2 narrow windows in NW wall.

31-pane timber sash and case windows (with radial glazing to upper sashes) and fixed lights windows of matching pattern. Leaded fixed lights with coloured panes flanking pulpit area. 12-panel, 2-leaf oak entrance doors with decorative latch and 6-pane fanlight in arch-head above. Vertically-boarded timber doors with iron latches elsewhere. Grey slate, piended roof to hall, gallery stairs and rear wing. Cast-iron gutters and downpipes.

INTERIOR: horseshoe galleried interior with later decorative scheme. Timber gallery, supported on cast-iron columns with capitals, panelled and corniced front, advanced at centre; raked timber floor with horizontally boarded timber pews. Modern infill of oak ply partitions below gallery at SW and NW corners. Horizontally-boarded timber pews at ground. Modern oak ply organ loft centring SW wall, fronted by semi-octagonal panelled pine pulpit, with balustraded timber steps. Cross-bound timber doors, with iron latches and handles, to gallery stairs. Stairs symmetrically disposed at N and W corners, with timber handrails affixed to walls.

2-leaf vestibule doors with leaded glass depicting shields, in pointed-arched, roll-moulded surround. Droved ashlar basket-arched recesses in outer vestibule, 1 with marble bust on plinth bearing inscription "Caraid nan Gael". 2-leaf vertically-boarded inner vestibule doors with glazed uppers and brass handles, 11-pane radial fanlight centrally placed in inner vestibule.

BOUNDARY WALLS: random rubble boundary walls to rear (SW), lean-to brick store at centre with vertically-boarded timber door. Random rubble wall to SE, modern fence to NW. Square ashlar gatepiers, corniced, with bases and domed caps, surmounted by metal lamp standards with glass globes. Decorative, 2-leaf, wrought-iron gates.

Statement of Special Interest

The Highland Church was built to accommodate the Highland Congregation of Campbeltown, replacing the Gaelic Church that stood at the end of Kirk Street. Superintendent for building works was Robert Watt, a Glasgow contractor. The estimated cost of ?2395 was considerably exceeded owing to an ill-considered attempt to change the design of the steeple whilst the structure was in the course of erection, an enterprise which led to the partial collapse of the building. The steeple was then demolished by lightning in 1830, and rebuilt by John Baird of Glasgow in 1833, the contractor being James Taylor. It was then demolished and rebuilt once again in 1884-5, prior to the church being (as stated in the Heritors minutes) "thoroughly renovated" in 1890.

References

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