St Mary's Church, Belford Road, Fort William

St Mary's Church, built in the 1930s, is a rectangular church-building oriented east to west. The east gable features a large, low, square tower with an octagonal stair turret, whose roof is facetted and conical. A single-story, piended lean-to narthex extends almost the full length of the west gable. The church is constructed from pinned squared grey granite, with some random pink granite used in the tower’s masonry, and with tooled granite dressings. All window openings are round-headed. Three long, narrow windows illuminate the north face of the tower, and three similar, shorter slits are high in the south tower face.

The north and south elevations each have eight bays, with small windows. A bowed baptistry with a semi-circular conical roof projects from the penultimate west bay of the north front. Round-headed entrances are located on both the north and south sides of the narthex. The long, west-facing elevation is lit by three windows set within an arched blind arcade.

Various wings project from the south (rear) elevation, including a flat-roofed chapel abutting a gabled vestry projecting from the tower. A cross finial sits at the apex of the west gable, and there are three triangular, louvred roof vents on each side. The roofs are slate.

The interior has a simple, barrel-vaulted nave with oak pews. A tall round-headed chancel arch is supported by engaged columns with capitals carved with Celtic motifs, leading into a tall chancel. The chancel walls are of tooled ashlar, and the wooden ceiling has moulded beams and joists supported by stone corbels. Three shallow, round-headed recesses are in the east wall; the outer one is very narrow, and each has a stone bracket supporting carved and painted angels. A string course links the window and recess imposts. The altar stands below a substantial cast- and wrought-iron baldacchino, partially gilded with a facetted and pierced finial encircled by decorative annulets with crowing crosses. A chapel within the south aisle is divided from the nave by a pair of squat ashlar columns with carved capitals exhibiting cable moulding intertwined with either oak or floral designs in low relief; this treatment is similar on both flanking engaged columns.

The church is surrounded by a coped rubble wall, low along the north (street) front with simple cast-iron railings. A pair of squared gate piers, with square caps, support a pair of cast-iron gates.