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Summary

Description

Jenkins and Marr, 1882; hall to rear added by Baxter, Clark and Paul, 1910; hall to SW, circa 1982. Cruciform-plan Gothic church with tall square tower and spire at SE angle and important surviving interior; prominent setting at intersection of three roads. Tooled, squared and coursed granite with ashlar dressings. Chamfered base course; string course to E (entrance) elevation; eaves course; Latin cross apex finial to nave gables. Predominantly pointed-arch, geometrical traceried leaded windows, with chamfered rybats and raked cills; those to entrance elevation with hoodmoulding and label-stops. Glazed arrowslit to gable apex. Buttressed aisle and chancel with angled buttresses to tower. Stylistically similar attached tall single storey, rectangular-plan hall to NW; later addition to re-entrant angle. Former vestry sections adjoined to W elevation now obscured by later 20th century single storey, rectangular-plan piended addition to SW.

E (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: central gable with tower to left and single bay to right. Gabled doorpiece with Latin cross apex finial; 2-leaf panelled timber doors set within pointed-arch surround. Tripartite (central lancet taller) and mullioned window above entrance. Bay to left with lancet window at ground floor and blind trefoil carving above.

TOWER: 5-stage tower: pair of glazed arrowslit windows at ground floor; 2nd stage with traceried lancet window; shallow 3rd stage with glazed quatrefoil opening; 4th stage bellcote with pair of lancet louvred openings; 5th stage octagonal spire with clock set within gablet at base and flanked by pinnacles; trefoil detail and spouts to spire and topped by weathervane.

S (CRAIGTON ROAD) ELEVATION: 5 bays comprising of transept gable to left, 3-bay nave and tower to right. Shouldered flat-arched opening to base of tower. Late 20th century advanced addition to far left .

N (COUNTESSWELLS ROAD) ELEVATION: mirror of E elevation, with exception of tower. Hall adjoined to far right, with canted gable; pair of lancet windows to angles. Later flat roofed addition to re-entrant angle between church and hall.

Predominantly stained glass windows to church and 1910 hall (see NOTES); some uPVC windows to later additions. Steeply pitched roof, grey slates; gableted roof vents. Straight skew with corbelled skewputts. Later rainwater goods.

INTERIOR (seen 2012): characterised by Gothic timber detailing. Entrance vestibule with dog-leg stone stair to right; ceiling divided by shallow arches on corbels. Pointed-arched boarded timber doors with carved timber canopy. Timber hammerbeam roof truss to nave and transept, with cusped detail to infill, stone corbels to base. Raked timber gallery to E wall with decorative carving to balustrade; organ added 1960s. Original timber pews with quatrefoil detail, those to front with fleur-de-lys finials. Vertical timber boarding to dado. Elaborate timber partitions to doors to former vestry. Mid 20th century alterations to chancel including communion table. Hall with vaulted boarded timber ceiling and timber stage. Some late 20th century remodelling.

BOUNDARY WALL: rubble boundary will with chamfered ashlar copes. Square-plan piers with ashlar caps.

Statement of Special Interest

Place of worship in use as such. Mannofield Parish Church is a prominent and well-detailed example of Scottish church architecture at the peak of church construction in the second half of the 19th century. The building retains much of its original carved timber work to the interior. It is a significant building in the area, prominently located at the intersection of three roads, with a landmark tower which is one of the tallest in the city. This distinctive slender tower and spire may have been inspired by the steeple of The Kirk Of St Nicholas Uniting by William Smith in 1875-7 (see separate listing).

Mannofield, a suburb of Aberdeen, was developed from the later 19th century following the construction of the Deeside Railway and the rerouting of the old turnpike road to Braemar to meet the Great Western Road. The church was originally accommodated in a temporary wooden building on a site in front of the present church. Construction of Mannofield Parish Church commenced on 10 March 1881 and it was officially opened on 30th July 1882.

Mannofield Parish Church has a variety of stained glass windows. The oldest is the large window to the west elevation which was donated in 1892 and depicts eight biblical people. The stained glass windows to the transept were installed in the late 20th century. That to the north depicts 'The Calming of The Storm' and was awarded a Saltire Socity Commendation.

George Gordon Jenkins commenced practice as architect and surveyor in Aberdeen around 1874, his earliest work being concerned with the layout of cemeteries. In 1878 he took into partnership George Marr, who was experienced in the designs of schools and farm buildings. Throughout their early careers, the work of Jenkins & Marr was of a simple and strictly practical nature, but with Mannofield Church, for which an experienced assistant was probably brought into the practice, it moved to a rather higher plane. The practice undertook a wide range of commissions including private houses, commercial buildings as well as churches.

References

Bibliography

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