Colmonell Parish Church, Manse Road, Colmonell

St Colmon Parish Church is a rectangular-plan church, dated 1772, designed in the Early English Gothic style. It stands on an elevated churchyard site at the western end of the village of Colmonell in the Stinchar Valley, positioned prominently along Manse Road. The church was recast and enlarged by David Bryce in 1849, and further external and internal alterations were made by Sir Robert Lorimer in 1899, including the addition of the east porch and a balustraded exterior stair to the choir gallery.

The building is constructed in coursed granite rubble with contrasting ashlar dressings, moulded and pointed hoodmoulds, and angled buttresses. The south elevation is rendered. An open bellcote sits atop the east gable. The main entrance is through a porch addition on the east elevation, slightly lower in height than the main body of the church, which features two pointed arched windows flanking a chamfered entrance opening and a blind oculi window in the gable apex. An off-centre gabled porch projects from the north elevation, and the west elevation has three tall lancet windows beneath a continuous hoodmould. On the south elevation, a lintel and two datestones set above one of the buttresses read in chronological order: 'HEIR IS ANE HOUS BU[I]LT TO SERVE GOD, 1591 / 1772 / 1849'. A further datestone beside the exterior choir gallery entrance reads '1899'.

The interior, as observed in 2023, largely dates from the late 19th and 20th centuries. Decorative features include stained pine pews and a carved timber font in memory of Captain Peter Norman Tinn, who died in 1942. Robert Lorimer's work of 1899 is represented by the oak reredos, carved altar, and pulpit. The pipe organ dates from 1908 and was built by Norman and Beard of Norwich; its decorative case was designed by Lorimer and sculpted by woodcarvers William and Alexander Clow.

There are 13 stained glass windows, including Arts and Crafts-style designs by Louis Davis, Douglas Strachan, Ballantine and Gardiner, James Humphries Hogan, and H B Powell. The triptych in the west elevation is by Louis Davis and was donated by Robert Finnie McEwan of Bardrochat House.

The churchyard contains over 400 memorials, including gravestones dating from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Among them is a headstone dated 1772 commemorating the Covenanter Matthew McIlwraith, who died in 1685. The Knockdolian Vault, dated 1663, stands beside the western boundary wall and contains memorials to the McConnel family of Knockdolian. It is rectangular on plan, roofless, and topped by a stepped balustrade. The site is enclosed by a rubble-built boundary wall with a rounded cope. The main churchyard entrance has a pair of squared gatepiers with ball finials and iron gates.

The historical record of Christianity on this site reaches back to around 600 AD, when St Colmon of Ella, reputedly a nephew of St Columba, is thought to have brought the faith to the area. A church has existed on the current site since at least 1179, and an earlier church is shown on Blaeu's Atlas of 1654. The Statistical Account of Scotland of 1792 records that the earlier church, dated 1591, was taken down and the present building erected on its foundations in 1772. Historical maps from 1815 and Ordnance Survey surveys of 1855, 1894, and 1908 confirm that the footprint and layout of the churchyard, boundary wall, and Knockdolian Vault have not significantly changed over time. The Ordnance Survey Name Book of 1855–57 described the church as neat and substantial, erected in a plain modern style at the expense of the parish heritors. The only additions to the footprint recorded by the 1908 map are the east porch and the choir gallery stair at the southeast corner.

Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer (1864–1929) was one of the foremost Scottish architects of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and a leading promoter of the Arts and Crafts style in Scotland. He is particularly associated with the restoration and building of country houses, including the nearby renovation of Bardrochat House for Robert F McEwan in 1906. McEwan (1861–1926), an advocate and local landowner, was a personal friend of Lorimer, and through this connection Lorimer also undertook work on the village war memorial in Colmonell. The stained glass is by some of the most highly regarded artists of the early 20th century, including Louis Davis (1860–1941) and Douglas Strachan (1875–1950). The interior fixtures and fittings — in particular the organ, organ casework, and panelled chancel — are considered good, well-detailed examples of Lorimer's craft, though not among his rarest or most outstanding works.

The church and churchyard retain their historic setting, including a visual relationship with the nearby manse. The church sits within a conservation area that encompasses much of the village of Colmonell, which largely retains its traditional built character.