Saint Conan’s Kirk [church] in Lochawe, Dalmally, United Kingdom is a unique building and it was voted one of the best buildings in Scotland completed in the Twentieth century.
Detailed history: https://stconanskirk.org.uk/about/history/
Key features: https://stconanskirk.org.uk/key-features/
Excerpts:
The original Kirk which was started in 1881 and completed in 1886 was a comparatively small, simple building easily recognised as a Presbyterian Church of Scotland. It was adequate to the needs of its small congregation. Its footprint was what is now the Nave and part of the Choir of the present Kirk. To make provision for the future, Walter created a Trust in 1883 comprising himself, his brother Montagu, Lord Archibald Campbell, second son of the Duke of Argyll and an authority on Argyll, its history and legends, and representatives of the Church of Scotland. This Trust exists today, now formed from local people owning and managing the building as laid out in Helen Douglas Campbell’s will of 1927. The Kirk was never adopted as a Church of Scotland church due to its small congregation and significant maintenance costs, but the local Church of Scotland Minister provided the service on a Sunday.
It remains “a Chapel of Ease”, a place of occasional worship open to all, also serving as a memorial to the Blythswood family.
Walter’s vision did not end in 1886. His mother died in 1897, aged 83, and within ten years he began the wonderful, surprising, unique building that you now see. Building work started in 1907 with Walter overseeing the entire project to which he dedicated the rest of his life. He died in April 1914 and work inevitably slowed during the Great War due to shortages of material and labour.
On his death his sister Helen took up the task and carried out the plans he had prepared making it her life objective to complete the Kirk in memory of her brother. She died in 1927, her nephew, Archibald, the 4th Lord Blythswood died in 1929, and the Trust largely completed the project.
Walter’s vision of a noble ecclesiastical building was not unduly influenced by convention. Most of the building is in the Norman or Romanesque style but he included not only early and late types of this but other totally different styles demonstrating his eclectic choices. He was more anxious to achieve interest and beauty than consistency and tried to include examples of every type of church architecture to be found.
Styles to be found in the Kirk include Norman, Romanesque, Saxon, Celtic Revival, Decorated Gothic, Gothic Revival and Arts and Crafts.
Detailed history: https://stconanskirk.org.uk/about/history/
Key features: https://stconanskirk.org.uk/key-features/
Excerpts:
The original Kirk which was started in 1881 and completed in 1886 was a comparatively small, simple building easily recognised as a Presbyterian Church of Scotland. It was adequate to the needs of its small congregation. Its footprint was what is now the Nave and part of the Choir of the present Kirk. To make provision for the future, Walter created a Trust in 1883 comprising himself, his brother Montagu, Lord Archibald Campbell, second son of the Duke of Argyll and an authority on Argyll, its history and legends, and representatives of the Church of Scotland. This Trust exists today, now formed from local people owning and managing the building as laid out in Helen Douglas Campbell’s will of 1927. The Kirk was never adopted as a Church of Scotland church due to its small congregation and significant maintenance costs, but the local Church of Scotland Minister provided the service on a Sunday.
It remains “a Chapel of Ease”, a place of occasional worship open to all, also serving as a memorial to the Blythswood family.
Walter’s vision did not end in 1886. His mother died in 1897, aged 83, and within ten years he began the wonderful, surprising, unique building that you now see. Building work started in 1907 with Walter overseeing the entire project to which he dedicated the rest of his life. He died in April 1914 and work inevitably slowed during the Great War due to shortages of material and labour.
On his death his sister Helen took up the task and carried out the plans he had prepared making it her life objective to complete the Kirk in memory of her brother. She died in 1927, her nephew, Archibald, the 4th Lord Blythswood died in 1929, and the Trust largely completed the project.
Walter’s vision of a noble ecclesiastical building was not unduly influenced by convention. Most of the building is in the Norman or Romanesque style but he included not only early and late types of this but other totally different styles demonstrating his eclectic choices. He was more anxious to achieve interest and beauty than consistency and tried to include examples of every type of church architecture to be found.
Styles to be found in the Kirk include Norman, Romanesque, Saxon, Celtic Revival, Decorated Gothic, Gothic Revival and Arts and Crafts.
© David D. Dolton