Cathedral Of The Good Shepherd, 37 Dalmilling Crescent, Ayr

The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, located at 37 Dalmilling Crescent, Ayr, is a Roman Catholic church built between 1955 and 1957, with refurbishment work carried out in 1985. Designed by John Torry, the church exhibits a modernist Scandinavian style and is constructed primarily of brick. A continuous cill band runs along the entrance elevation. Window openings are predominantly square-headed.

The northeast (entrance) elevation features a gabled porch with a round-arched entrance leading to a pair of timber doors and a fanlight above. Single windows are placed on either side of the porch, and at the re-entrant angles. The gable is stepped, with a central, round-arched window. A cross tops the gablehead. To the outer left, two round-arched windows mark the return of a canted bay. A square-plan tower is situated to the outer right, featuring a rectangular plaque, a band course with three corniced openings, a narrow, round-arched stair window, flanked by two windows, and topped with a smaller, square-plan, louvred bell tower.

The northwest (Dalmilling Road) elevation has a ten-bay arrangement grouped as 1-5-1-3. An advanced square-plan tower, as previously described, is positioned on the outer left. Five nave windows are present, along with four tripartite windows and one advanced, round-arched window to the side aisles. A shallow gabled advanced chapel bay features a tall, narrow window, flanked by bipartite windows. A glazed timber door and tripartite window are set within an advanced bay to the right, alongside a tripartite window to the re-entrant angle. A three-light window illuminates the altar bay, while a small, square window is located on an advanced section towards the outer right.

The southeast (Dalmilling Crescent) elevation is an eight-bay arrangement grouped as 1-1-6, with a three-light window to the altar bay on the left. A single window is incorporated into an advanced, single-storey section that links an arched walkway from the church to a manse. A shallow gabled advanced chapel bay provides a tall, narrow window, flanked by bipartite windows, and a return single window to the right. Five nave windows are present, culminating in a statue of the Good Shepherd in the final bay to the right. A timber door with a fanlight and flanking round-arched windows are set within a single-storey side aisle spanning two bays. A polygonal-plan bay with round-arched windows is located to the right, with tripartite windows at ground level to the remaining bays.

The southwest elevation was not visible during a 1999 survey.

The windows are small-paned and include stained glass. The roof was not observed in 1999, but shows a wallhead stack. Rainwater goods are of cast iron.

The interior includes fittings salvaged from Pugin & Pugin’s St Robert Bellarmine, Glasgow, and stained glass from Pugin & Pugin’s Our Lady and St Margaret’s Church in Kinning Park, Glasgow (1882). It features a corniced, flat-roofed ceiling, brick arches to the side aisles, Stations of the Cross positioned between them, timber pews, altar furnishings, marble detailing to the side chapels, and a timber surround to a depiction of Christ on the Cross. An organ gallery is located beneath the east window. Floors are a combination of timber parquet, carpeting, and tiling.

To the northeast, southwest, and northwest elevations, square-plan brick gatepiers support two-leaf and single iron gates and railings set atop a brick boundary wall, enclosing the site.