Church Of Our Lady Star Of The Sea, Castlebay, Barra

The presbytery of the Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea in Castlebay, Barra, was designed by architect George Woulfe Brennan from Oban and completed in 1888. It is an aisled Gothic church featuring a four-stage square tower, with the presbytery located to the east.

The church is constructed of snecked and squared rubble with ashlar dressings. The tower has stepped angle buttresses and its upper stages are offset. There is an east-facing door, with mostly hood-moulded pointed openings above, and louvered openings at the top stage (belfry). A clock is present on three faces of the stage below, and the tower is topped with a crenellated parapet that encloses a pyramidal roof. The gable windows are three-light with hood-moulded pointed panels, while the aisle windows consist of single pointed lights, all adorned with cross finials.

Inside, the church features aisle arcades with depressed arches supported by octagonal columns, leaded gable windows, and roof timbers resting on corbels.

The presbytery itself is two storeys high with an asymmetrical plan. It has square-headed openings and plate glass sash windows, with a door located in the south gable and two windows on each floor. A wall-head stack is positioned to the east on a ramped base, flanked by gabled dormerheads, and there is a long single-storey lean-to on the north side. The roofs of both the church and presbytery are mostly slated.

The property is enclosed by a rubble-built wall, with cast-iron gates and gatepiers located to the southeast.