Description

The Church of the Holy Cross was designed by John More Dick Peddie and was partially built to the architect's original phased design in 1911-1913. It has a cruciform plan (orientated west to east) with a two-bay aisleless nave and is in a simple neo-Romanesque style. At the centre of the building is an unfinished low, square tower with a pyramid roof. The church contains stained glass windows dating to the 1930s by Christopher Webb.

The building is constructed in Corstorphine stone rubble and has smooth ashlar surrounds. The window openings are predominantly round-arched. The gables have triple-light windows and the central light is taller. That in the east end has a hoodmould and stained glass. The entrance in the west gable has a timber-framed porch with turned balusters in the upper section.

In the re-entrant angle (at the southeast corner) is a single-storey vestry. The south gable has a tripartite, flat-arched window with stone mullions. Above the window is a small iron bell that may have come from the corrugated iron church originally at this site. The vestry has a round-arched door opening in the south wall, with a timber door and accessed by a short flight of steps. In the re-entrant angle (at the northeast corner) is a square porch.

There are stained glass windows in the east gable (Webb, 1930) and in the south wall of the nave (from 1990). The other windows are fixed with multi-pane leaded lights. The roofs are steeply pitched and have brown slates. The rafter ends can be seen below the overhanging eaves. The eaves at the chancel end are slightly lower.

To the east and north of the church are rounded coped boundary wall with replacement plain metal railings.

The interior was seen in 2018. The walls are exposed rubble stone. Flanking the crossing are four large chamfered arches in ashlar supported on large corner piers. The roof is supported by scissor-braced rafters, which is supported by carved timber corbels, except the chancel which has carved stone corbels.

In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: the church hall to the west.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because of its potential to contribute to an understanding of later prehistoric defended settlement and economy. Its importance is increased by its proximity to other monuments of potentially contemporary date.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

The monument is recorded by RCAHMS as NM42NW 1

References:

RCAHMS 1980, 'AN INVENTORY OF THE MONUMENTS VOLUME 3: MULL, TIREE, COLL AND NORTHERN ARGYLL (EXCLUDING THE EARLY MEDIEVAL AND LATER MONUMENTS OF IONA', Edinburgh, 105-6, No. 199.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland