Church Of The Holy Spirit, St Fillans

The Church of the Holy Spirit, now a house following conversion in 2005, was built in 1856, possibly by Andrew Heiton Senior or Junior. It was originally a Free Church, built by Peter Drummond of Drumearn, and is located in St Fillans, within Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. It is a single-story, rectangular building oriented north-south, with a later gothic porch, likely also by Heiton, added to the south gable, and a lower former vestry projecting from the north gable. A gablehead bellcote sits atop the main gable, and the roof features prominent skewputts. The church is constructed on a bank, giving it a commanding position on the main road through St Fillans.

The principal facade of pink sandstone ashlar with cream sandstone dressings features a pointed-arch entrance to the porch, accentuated by stripy voussoirs and pilastered, trefoil-headed detailing. The porch’s gable has a carved finial and swept skews, with lancet windows on its sides and diagonal corner buttresses. Four steps lead up to the porch, with a further two inside. Two lancet windows flank the porch on the south gable, and a pointed-arch bellcote tops the gable. The east and west elevations have shouldered windows, each a double light with a central mullion flanked by single lights. The north gable is jerkin-headed, with the advanced, gabled former vestry to one side.

The church’s interior was inaccessible during the 2005 survey. Construction materials include pink sandstone ashlar and cream sandstone dressings on the south elevation, and whinstone rubble with sandstone dressings on the sides and rear. Window frames are timber-boarded and glazed with diamond-pane cast iron. The roof is covered in grey slate, and includes some Velux windows.

Low, ashlar-coped boundary/retaining walls are present along the main road, along with small pyramidal piers flanking eight ashlar steps leading to the entrance. The church was sold to the Episcopal Church in 1936 and was no longer in ecclesiastical use by the time of conversion. The porch appears to have been added later, as it intersects with the surround of the main entrance arch. The porch is depicted on the second edition Ordnance Survey map from around 1898. Improvements had been made to the building in 1876, as shown in church records.