Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

CORRAN ESPLANADE, CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST COLUMBA, WITH BOUNDARY WALLS (ROMAN CATHOLIC)LB38820

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category
A
Date Added
20/07/1971
Local Authority
Argyll And Bute
Planning Authority
Argyll And Bute
Burgh
Oban
NGR
NM 85532 30679
Coordinates
185532, 730679

Description

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, 1935-52. Modern gothic church sited on falling ground. Nave and aisles, shallow, square ended chancel and single short transept on N side. Square tower at W end with crenellated parapet and octagonal stair tower on N side.

External stonework pink, stugged, squared and snecked granite, polished granite dressings and copings. Base course, battered above to cill level of aisles. Modillions to aisle wallheads, nave parapet with moulded coping. Gable ends of aisles and transept crowstepped, curvilinear detail at junction with crenellation of porches. Buttresses dividing aisle windows, and on E wall, pilaster-like angle buttresses to tower, clasping buttresses to porches. Interior with en-suite furnishings and form achieving striking verticality.

TOWER: 4-light louvered lancets on each face, 2-light louvered lancet on N face, chimney and octagonal stair tower with crenellated parapet and occasional windows to left. Large triple lancet in W elevation, illuminating baptistery.

S ELEVATION: 4-bay aisle. Porch to W end of aisle, moulded entrance doorway set behind pointed arch, with niche and crenellated parapet above. Bays 2 to 5, 4-light diamond-paned leaded lancets. 2 lancets with trefoil tracery at E end illuminating chancel.

E ELEVATION: gable end to nave and chancel, buttresses set back from corners, moulded cope, stepped at corners, carved cross at apex.

N (CORRAN BRAE) ELEVATION: 7-bay aisle, buttresses between bays. Porch at W end of aisle (bay 7), step moulded entrance doorway set behind pointed arch, with niche and crenellated parapet above. 4-light diamond-paned leaded lancets, cill heights of outer bays to left stepping up with street level. Lancet window with trefoil tracery at east end illuminating chancel.

W (CORRAN ESPLANADE) ELEVATION: small stair arrowslits and bipartite windows on 1st and 2nd floors of porches, diamond-pane leaded glazing. Plinth at ground level. Grey slate roofs of different pitches to aisles, nave and transept. Terracotta ridge to transept, cast-iron gutters with downpipes into buttresses. Nave parapet gutters drained by lead spouts to aisle roofs. Tower drained by spouts through E parapet into hoppers.

INTERIOR: internal stonework, base course of squared and snecked pink granite, walls above of stugged, squared and snecked grey granite. Columns and dressings of pink droved granite. Heavy wooden doors with good ironmongery. Square entrance porch with enclosed stair tower in corner, font set into window cill. Nave, 6-bay side aisle arcade to S, 7-bay side aisle arcade to N. Nave arcade columns with octagonal

bases, circular shafts and square capitals. Pointed arches with flat soffits between. Ceiling; open timber roof, 9 trusses supporting purlins, trusses supported on small, plain corbels. Aisle windows expressed internally with grid pattern of mullions, cill and lintel, hence strong impression of verticality. Carved timber relief stations of the cross between. Ogee-arched entrance doors in SW, NW, and SE corners of nave. Baptistery in base of tower, with contemporary pink granite baptismal font, copper cover. Large pointed arch connecting

baptistery with nave. Chancel, curvilinear-arched piscina with shelf and projecting bowl in S wall, canons' stalls, original altar extant with sacrament house. Reredos, carved stone frame with decorated timber panel and canopy. Altar screen, 2 courses of granite surmounted

by timber rail. Pulpit integral with base of S choir screen column.

Lady chapel, reredos with doors in front of granite arcaded organ screen. Altar of geometrically patterned sandstones of different colours. Square lintelled piscina in SE corner. Sacred Heart chapel, timber canopy shaped as pitched roof with carved dove, suspended from ceiling. Polished ashlar altar with marble top, square recess in SE corner. Low, integral, boundary wall to N and S of tower base.

Statement of Special Interest

Foundation stone to this building was laid by the Right Rev Donald Martin on the 14th September 1932. This building is of high quality design and construction.

References

Bibliography

Groome's GAZETTEER. Dean of Guild, Argyll and Bute District Council.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

Images

There are no images available for this record, you may want to check Canmore for images relating to CORRAN ESPLANADE, CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST COLUMBA, WITH BOUNDARY WALLS (ROMAN CATHOLIC)

There are no images available for this record.

Search Canmore

Printed: 29/03/2024 01:23