St John's Parish Church, Port Ellen, Islay

St John's Parish Church in Port Ellen, Islay, was built in 1897-1898 to a distinctive Arts and Crafts design by Arthur George Sydney Mitchell. The church is a small, single-story, rectangular building with a prominent belfry topped by a broached spire at its west end. It’s constructed from random rubble stone, with darker stone used for quoins and dressings.

The east (entrance) elevation features a lean-to timber and rubble porch. Four bipartite windows with trifoliated lattice glazing are positioned centrally, with bracketed eaves. A two-leaf, timber-panelled door is set within a pointed arch on the right return, and a single trifoliated window is on the left; the right return is timbered and includes a pointed arched panel. Pointed trifoliated lancet windows with chamfered sills flank the porch. An elongated, shouldered chimney stack is situated towards the left of the gable apex.

The north elevation is six bays long, with a low wallhead and swept eaves. Four bipartite lattice windows are on the left (nave), and a projecting bay to the right contains two closely set tripartite lattice windows (transept). A broached spire rises from a chamfered and shouldered belfry, featuring vents, small windows, and a gablet, topped with a lead finial. The chancel is recessed to the far right.

The west (street) elevation features an advanced, full-height pitched chancel with a pointed trifoliated lancet window and angle buttresses; a window is set back to the right.

The south elevation mirrors the north elevation, with no windows in the projecting bay to the left. The roof is steeply pitched and covered with grey slates, with straight ashlar skews.

Low, dry stone boundary walls with rubble coping enclose the church.

Inside, the church has a mansard-profile plaster ceiling supported by timber trusses springing from below the wallhead. Segmental arched window openings are found on the north and south sides, with plain oak pews. A wide, central pointed ashlar arch opens onto the chancel, flanked by smaller pointed arches. A carved oak communion table with three gothic blind tracery panels, a small oak font, and a lectern of similar design are all present. Oak dado panelling lines the chancel, and a pointed archway provides access to the vestry on the right. Three stained glass windows are notable: one depicting Christ the Good Shepherd, and serving as a memorial to Reverend James Mackinnon, who served as minister from 1894 to 1938. Another commemorates Iain Ramsay of Kildalton, who died on 30 April 1942. The third window, to the southeast, depicts a haymaking scene with a pensive shepherd boy and stone carvers. Both eastern windows are by an unknown artist.