West Free Church, Argyle Street, Rothesay, Bute

The West Free Church, located on Argyle Street in Rothesay, Bute, was constructed between 1846 and 1847, designed by Charles Wilson. It is a Romanesque style church with a symmetrical design, comprising three bays by six bays. The church is notable for its three-stage entrance tower topped with an octagonal spire positioned centrally within the ‘nave-and-aisles’ gable facing the northeast. Flanking the main body of the church are advanced, flat-roofed bays to the right and left, and a canted apse at the rear. A single-story, piended addition extends from the southwest.

The church is built with slightly droved, coursed yellow sandstone ashlar, with polished sandstone dressings. Features include a raised, roll-moulded plinth; an architraved cill course; and dentilled eaves. The round-arched bipartite openings are characterized by polished surrounds, columnar mullions and reveals, scalloped capitals, soffit-mouldings, architraved hoodmoulds, and moulded label-stops. The sides and rear are of harl-pointed random rubble sandstone, with a raised, polished band course at principal floor, droved rubble quoins, and droved long and short surrounds to polished round-arched openings. Cills are chamfered.

The northeast (entrance) elevation features steps leading to a recessed, two-leaf boarded timber door. Decorative cast-iron hinges are present, along with deep columnar reveals incorporating dogtooth, chevron, and billet frieze moulding. A curvilinear strapwork design is set into the round-arched tympanum above the door. A blind round-arch with roll-moulded tracery is positioned above, and a large bipartite window is centrally located in the tower at the second stage. Small, bipartite openings flank gabled, louvred lucarnes. Pinnacled angle-buttresses flank the octagonal spire. The advanced bays on either side of the centre feature bipartite windows set on the second-stage cill course within slightly recessed panels. Dogtooth soffits and architraved hoodmoulds are also present.

The northwest and southeast (side) elevations are recessed by two bays on the outer left and right, respectively. Bipartite windows are at the second stage in the bays to the outer left (northwest) and right (southeast). Boarded timber doors are at ground level, set within round-arched surrounds in the penultimate bays on the outer left and right. Large Y-tracery bipartite windows are equally disposed in the four remaining bays to the right and left. A three-bay, single-story addition extends to the south. The canted apse is centred on the southwest.

Predominantly replacement opaque glazing is present, with some missing. Original 12-pane timber sash and case windows are found in the rear addition. The roof is covered with graded grey slate, featuring raised skews and a coped apex stack to the southwest; cans are missing. The interior was not inspected in 1996.