Burial Ground, St Andrew's Episcopal Church, High Street, Fort William

St Andrew's Episcopal Church, Fort William

This is a High Gothic church designed by Alexander Ross of Inverness in 1880, set within a walled burial ground on High Street. The church follows a cruciform plan orientated east-west, with a nave, chancel, transept (used as a vestry) to the south, and a prominent tower at the north.

The exterior is constructed of bullfaced, sneck-coursed red Abriachan granite with contrasting tooled and polished ashlar sandstone dressings. A gabled porch projects at the north-west, featuring a shouldered lintel flanked by polished granite nook shafts with stiff leaf capitals and a pointed-headed tympanum carved with a figure of St Andrew and spandrels decorated with thistles and roses.

A low rectangular baptistry occupies the west gable, lit by three squat pointed-headed windows with geometric tracery. Similar windows appear in the north gable, and the wallhead is encircled by a low carved coped balustrade with angle buttresses. Large pointed-headed windows with geometric tracery dominate the east gable (3-light) and west gable (4-light), with smaller traceried pointed-headed windows punctuating the four bays of the flanks.

The tall square tower rises three storeys at the north-east with a projecting stair turret on its east elevation. The lower stage features occuli in each face, the second stage has paired round-headed lancets, and the third stage is offset with gabletted angle pinnacles and louvred windows under gablets in each face. Above rises a slender ashlar-faced spire with a ball finial and weathervane apex, embellished with carved quatrefoil detailing to annulets and a ring of diminutive lucarnes. A south-east vestry with a dated lintel and roll-moulded architraves completes the exterior. Original rhones and down-water goods, flat skews, and simple curved skewputts survive, with slate roofs throughout.

The interior displays richly detailed High Gothic character of considerable quality. The baptistry is entered through a traceried screen and features a vaulted ceiling with bosses. A white Caen stone font with an ornate carved wooden canopy by Harry Hems stands centrally, accompanied by a rich mosaic floor by Salviati and stained glass windows.

The nave contains simple bench pews and a fine sequence of stained glass windows with New Testament themes. A pulpit in white Caen stone occupies the north-east angle of the nave, supported on arches with polished marble columns and stiff leaf capitals, linked to a similarly detailed stair balustrade.

The chancel features a brass eagle lectern and carved oak choir stalls with poppy-head pew ends, both by Harry Hems. The sanctuary is distinguished by a brass altar rail, ornate mural sedilia in the south wall, and a similarly detailed Bishop's throne and aumbry in the north wall. An arcaded reredos spans the east wall, with three Gothic cusped arches on each side of the altar framing low relief work and a crocketted gablet with a mosaic Crucifixion by Salviati at the centre.

All doors are by Harry Hems. The entrance door in the north-west porch is a double door with six carved panels on the outer face depicting the Good Shepherd and chequered patterns on the inner face. The south-west door leading to the baptistry has no exterior carving but features paired pointed-headed doors with complex decorative wrought-iron hinges of intricate design and geometric tracery on the inner faces. The vestry door at the south-east bears linen-fold panelling and stylised floral wrought-iron hinges on the exterior, while the chancel-vestry door is a three-panel door with carvings illustrating St Columba.

The church is surrounded by a walled burial ground constructed of bullfaced red granite with contrasting tooled sandstone ashlar coping. The north frontage to High Street is interrupted by lengths of ornate cast-iron spearhead railings set on a low coped retaining wall. A bracketed timber lych gate entrance with flanking bench seats and wooden gates features a red tiled jerkin-headed roof with decorative ridge and end finials. A second entrance at Bank Street comprises a gabletted arch with a pointed-headed entrance on the west wall, surmounted by bellcote-like decoration.