Trinity Church, Castle Street, Rothesay, Bute

Trinity Church, Rothesay, was built in 1843-45 to the design of Archibald Simpson, with an additional hall added in the mid-20th century. It is a symmetrical, plain Gothic Free Kirk constructed on a rectangular plan, with pitched outbuildings to the rear and a prominent, three-stage, angle-buttressed tower to the front. The church is primarily built of coursed, droved yellow sandstone ashlar, with random rubble sandstone at the east, west, and south sides. Features include raised margins, a base course, and chamfered string courses. Pointed-arch openings are framed by architraved ashlar mullions incorporating Y- tracery, and are set within pointed-arch hoodmoulds with moulded label-stops.

The north, or entrance, elevation is symmetrical, with three bays and three storeys. The central entrance tower features a pointed-arch reveal containing a pair of timber doors with a decorative inset relief and a blind timber fanlight above. A large, louvred bipartite window sits above, topped by an octagonal spire. Flanking the tower are panelled dies, each topped with a crocketted pinnacle. A small bipartite lucarne with an ogee hoodmould is also present. The tall, narrow single windows on either side are capped externally, with a missing crocket from the right pinnacle.

The east and west elevations have a recessed bay to the north, with a similar timber door, fanlight, and opening in the tower above. Symmetrical arrangements of bipartite windows with Y- tracery are found in the five advanced bays to the south of the entrance.

The glazing is predominantly clear leaded, with a stained-glass tripartite window in the chancel, and stained single windows on the outer left and right of the east and west elevations. The church roof is covered in grey slate, with raised stone skews.

A pitched, single-storey church hall and meeting room is located to the rear, also with grey slate, raised stone skews, and a coped apex stack to the west. A single circular window punctuates the hall’s exterior.

The interior is largely intact, featuring a broad nave with an open hammerbeam roof, boarded dados, and a gallery at the north end. A notable feature is the impressive double stair in the vestibule, characterized by a cast-iron foliate balustrade and a roll-moulded timber handrail. Timber pews are accented with fleur-de-lys finials, while simple Doric columns support the gallery, which has inset blind-traceried panelling.

The tiered pulpit has a bowed centre, decorated with quatrefoil and pointed-arch carvings. Flanking balustraded stairs incorporate a timber handrail and carved timber newels. A pair of symmetrical decorative Gothic organ cases stand on either side of the pulpit. A further elegant element is the octagonal timber baptismal font.

Low, coped boundary walls run along Castle Street. Whitewashed, square-plan, panelled gatepiers with pyramidal caps support decorative cast-iron lamp standards at the central entry, with a single gatepier marking the pedestrian access to the left. Some original iron railings remain.