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Summary

Description

Charles Wilson, 1846-7. Symmetrical 3- by 6-bay Romanesque style church with 3-stage entrance tower beneath octagonal spire centred in 'nave-and-aisles' gable to NE; flanking flat-roofed bays advanced to right and left; canted apse centred at rear; piended single storey addition to SW. Slightly droved, coursed yellow sandstone ashlar; polished sandstone dressings. Raised, roll-moulded plinth; architraved cill course; dentilled eaves. Polished surrounds to round-arched bipartite openings; columnar mullions and reveals; scalloped capitals; soffit-mouldings; architraved round-arched hoodmoulds; moulded label-stops. Harl-pointed random rubble sandstone at sides and rear; raised, polished band course at principal floor; droved rubble quoins; droved long and short surrounds to polished round-arched openings; chamfered cills.

NE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: steps to recessed 2-leaf boarded timber door centred at ground; decorative cast-iron hinges; deep columnar reveals comprising dogtooth, chevron and billet-frieze moulding; curvilinear strapwork set in round-arched tympanum. Blind round-arch, roll-moulded tracery detail aligned above; large bipartite window centred in tower at 2nd stage; small bipartite openings flanking gabled, louvred lucarnes; pinnacled angle-buttresses flanking octagonal spire. Advanced bays to right and left of centre comprising bipartite windows set on 2nd stage cill course in slightly recessed central panels; dogtooth soffits; architraved hoodmoulds.

NW AND SE (SIDE) ELEVATIONS: 2-bays recessed to outer left and right respectively; bipartite windows at 2nd stage in bays to outer left (NW) and right (SE); boarded timber doors at ground set in round-arched surrounds in penultimate bays to outer left and right. Large Y-tracery bipartite windows equally disposed in 4 remaining bays to right and left; 3-bay single storey addition to S; canted apse centred at SW.

Predominantly replacement opaque glazing (some missing); 12-pane timber sash and case windows to rear addition. Graded grey slate roof; raised skews; coped apex stack to SW; cans missing.

INTERIOR: not seen 1996.

Statement of Special Interest

No longer in ecclesiastical use; empty 1996. A fine building and a prominent landmark despite a recessed position. With its intricate soffit-mouldings beneath architraved round arches, columnar mullions, pinnacled spire and overall symmetry, here Wilson makes clear his mastery of Romanesque detailing. Not only is this an example of Wilson at his best, it is, more significantly perhaps, an important example of early Victorian church building in Scotland. The BUILDER notes the architect's "...highly cultivated taste and good advancement in aesthetic feeling and constructive skill."

Rothesay is one of Scotland's premier seaside resorts, developed primarily during the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and incorporates an earlier medieval settlement. The town retains a wide range of buildings characteristic of its development as a high status 19th century holiday resort, including a range of fine villas, a Victorian pier and promenade.

The history and development of Rothesay is defined by two major phases. The development of the medieval town, centred on Rothesay Castle, and the later 19th and early 20th century development of the town as a seaside resort. Buildings from this later development, reflect the wealth of the town during its heyday as a tourist destination, and include a range of domestic and commercial architecture of a scale sometimes found in larger burghs. Both the 19th and early 20th century growth of the town, with a particular flourish during the inter-war period, included areas of reclaimed foreshore, particularly along the coast to the east of the town and around the pier and pleasure gardens.

(List description revised as part of Rothesay listing review 2010-11).

References

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