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Summary

Description

James Archibald Morris, foundation stone laid 1912; nave completed 1913; chancel, organ chamber and vestry begun 1920, completed 1921; church hall completed 1927 (John Rutherford Johnstone, architect). Rectangular-plan Arts and Crafts Gothic style Episcopal church comprising nave and chancel under single roof ridge (chancel walls higher than nave); gabled porch projecting to NE; rectangular plan hall adjoined to SW forming L-plan. Squared and snecked bull-faced red Mauchline sandstone; polished sandstone dressings; half-timbered gablehead to porch. No base course; overhanging eaves; buttressed angles; polished quoins; polished long and short surrounds to openings. Chamfered surrounds to windows (predominantly square-headed); pointed-arch chancel windows; chamfered cills; block stops to architraved hoodmoulds. Pitched, Gothic timber lych gate to front; sandstone plinth; carved bargeboards.

NE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: single, arched opening set in projecting porch off-set to right of centre; sandstone benches lining inner walls; pointed-arched, architraved surround to timber panelled door centred within (projecting mouse motif at base). Simple tripartite windows in 4 bays to left (nave). Irregularly disposed, cusped, traceried windows in remaining 3 bays to left (chancel).

NW (SIDE) ELEVATION: square-headed sexpartite window centred in nave gable (liturgical W); blind oculus aligned beneath apex (missing finial). Single storey, crenellated entrance porch recessed to right. Single storey wing recessed to right linking 8-bay hall beyond comprising crenellated outer bays (advanced to left); regularly disposed tripartite windows. Segmental-arched surround to timber door set in buttressed porch recessed to outer right.

SE (SIDE) ELEVATION: 5-light cusped, traceried window centred in finialed chancel gable (liturgical E). Single and bipartite windows in single storey wing recessed to left with segmental-arched surround to 2-leaf boarded timber door to outer left. Hall beyond comprising crenellated bays to outer left and right (advanced to right); regularly disposed tripartite openings.

Predominantly small-pane, plain leaded glazing; some decorative stained glass. Red tile roof; raised stone skews. Original rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: pointed arch dividing nave and chancel. Naturalistic carving to sandstone pulpit (1921); intricate detailing to timber chancel fittings; organ to W; altar (1936); sedilia; piscina. Individual timber seats in nave; tripartite glazing set in segmental-arched recesses; marble font. Oak doors by Robert Thomson of Kilburn (note the carved mouse trademarks). Hammerbeam timber roof to nave; boarded timber barrel-vault to chancel. Stained glass including Mackie Memorial window; Walker Memorial Window, W Wilson (Spring, Summer, St Ninian, Autumn, Winter etc.).

LYCH GATE: 2-leaf pedestrian entry gate; decorative timber bargeboards; red-tile roof.

REAR BOUNDARY WALL AND PIERS: tile-coped red brick wall enclosing site at rear; moulded copes to coursed red sandstone square plan piers; gates missing.

Statement of Special Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. A good example of the work of James Archibald Morris (1857 - 1942), an Ayrshire based architect with a keen interest in conservation and preservation. Having joined the Art Workers Guild in London, Morris went on to play a key role in the foundation of the Scottish Society of Art Workers, closely based on its English counterpart. The society's aim was to encourage mutual study and co-operation between workers in different media. As president, Morris was associated with artists and architects such as Phoebe Traquair, Robert Lorimer and John Keppie. At the turn of the century, Hermann Muthesius described Morris as "...a good architect who works in simple modern-looking forms, while yet maintaining his own personal style." St Ninian?s Church is a good example of this. For here, simplicity of form is combined with intricate detailing to create an appealing, Arts and Crafts-inspired whole. Inside, the carving is particularly noteworthy. Born in North Yorkshire in 1876, the son of a joiner, Robert Thomson produced work which delighted aesthetes. Greatly influenced by a fifteenth century choir stall in Ripon Cathedral, Thomson sought to rediscover the properties of oak using ancient tools such as the adze (an implement which, as can be seen at St Ninian's, imparted his work with a distinctive ripple effect). Another of Thomson's trademarks can also be seen here. Carved mice are to be found on the door and the chest to the rear of the church. Combining simplicity and astuteness, Thomson regarded the mouse as an appropriate signature for his carving. "...I thought how a mouse manages to scrape and chew away the hardest wood with its chisel-like teeth, and works quietly, with nobody taking much notice... It is what you might call industry in quiet places, so I put the mouse on all my work" (Scots Magazine). Various pieces within St Ninian's were completed by Robert and John Cartwright - Thomson's grandsons. Some of the interior fittings are noted as having been gifted to the church - the font, for example, gifted by J H Turner, the Duke of Portland's agent. The adjoining hall, designed by John Rutherford Johnstone (a local architect) was gifted by a Mrs Mabel Townsend in 1927 in memory of her two sons killed in the War. The adjacent rectory is listed separately (see No 70 Bentinck Drive, St Ninian's Rectory).

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