Lyle Kirk, Esplanade Building (former Old West Kirk), Campbell Street, Greenock is a Grade A listed building in the Inverclyde local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 13 May 1971. Church.

Lyle Kirk, Esplanade Building (former Old West Kirk), Campbell Street, Greenock

WRENN ID
dim-lintel-sorrel
Grade
A
Local Planning Authority
Inverclyde
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
13 May 1971
Type
Church
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

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Description

The Lyle Kirk, originally known as the Old West Kirk, was first designed by James Salmon Senior in 1864 and subsequently relocated to its current location between 1925 and 1928 under the supervision of James Miller, who also designed the tower and added more windows during this process. A panel beneath the tracery window on the southwest facing gable is inscribed “THE KIRK OF GRENOK Built by Jonne Schaw A.D. 1591 Transferred from the original site now occupied by Harland & Wolff's shipyard A.D.1926”. The church is distinguished by its collection of 16 stained glass windows created by renowned British artists.

The building is a cross-plan church constructed in ashlar. It features a two-stage, crenellated tower of battered square plan at the east end. Each gable is punctuated by a large, pointed arched window with three or four lights of tracery, while other windows are rectangular with diamond panes or stained glass. The main entrance is located in the northeast facing gable, featuring a two-leaf timber door within a roll-moulded round arched surround supported by Corinthian columnettes. The southwest elevation presents a double-gabled, crow-stepped aisle; the gable to the left houses a balustraded forestair leading to the Laird's loft (the Shaw Stewarts' family aisle), while the gable to the right features two arches at ground floor level. The roof is covered in grey slates, with cast iron rainwater goods supported by decorative brackets.

The interior, inspected in 2016, retains a largely intact mid-19th century decorative scheme which was reconstructed in the 1920s. Raked seating galleries are present in each arm of the cross plan, with decorative carved timber balustrades. These galleries, located at the northwest, northeast, and southeast, are supported by pairs of slender columns with Corinthian capitals. The boarded timber ceiling is supported on plain timber roof trusses springing from stone corbels. The octagonal pulpit and communion table are elaborately carved with figurative carvings of the Evangelists, the Lamb of God, and angels. Plain timber pews are also present throughout. The exceptional late 19th and early 20th century collection of stained glass features works by James Ballantine, Daniel Cottier, Gordon Webster, Mary Wood, and for Morris & Co, works by Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown, Simeon Solomon, William Morris, and Philip Webb.

A low stone wall with a triangular cope and straight iron railings surrounds the south and east sides of the church. Two pairs of square gatepiers, topped by ball finials, mark the entrances. North of the church, memorials dating from the mid-18th century are set into a tall rubble boundary wall, many featuring carved details. Within the boundary wall to the northwest, a corbel stone dated 1625 is incorporated and is believed to have originated from the 16th century church manse.

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