Description

Dated 1827, substantially reduced and rebuilt 1959. 3 x 1-bay hall church. Harl-pointed rubble and harled walls. Some droved sandstone dressings and concrete dressings, margins, doorpiece and belfry. Base course, margined openings to S elevation, projecting cills to windows.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: gable to left with tall round-arched window at centre; entrance door in square 3-stage tower at right comprising round-arched surround with keystone containing 2-leaf panelled timber entrance door and radial fanlight, oculus centred above, concrete arcaded open-work belfry to upper stage.

E ELEVATION: 4-bay elevation with bay to outer left obscured by advanced tower elevation comprising round-arched window at ground with upper stages matching S elevation; tall round-arched windows in bays to right.

N GABLE: tall round-arched window at centre.

E ELEVATION: single tall round-arched window to right of centre; elevation to left of centre obscured by church hall addition.

22-pane timber fixed-lights to principal windows, stained glass to N window. Modern concrete tile roof.

INTERIOR: 2-leaf panelled timber inner entrance doors with glazed uppers. Timber fittings to nave including vertically-boarded wainscoting to nave, horizontally-boarded pews, and modern polygonal timber pulpit.

CHURCH HALL: harl-pointed rubble T-plan hall comprising 2-bay elevation to W, blank gables to N and S, cement-rendered and lined link to church.

BOUNDARY WALLS AND GATEPIERS: small rubble-walled enclosure to E of church (marking extent of original church), advanced at centre of E wall with infilled lower portion of former entrance door. Rough rubble wall to road with stone urns on square concrete gatepiers.

Statement of Interest

In ecclesiastical use. The original church was reputedly a copy of St Columba's Church in Greenfield Place, Lerwick, which was designed by James Milne of Edinburgh (1825-9). It is said St John's was a larger building capable of seating 2000, although the remains of the east end of the building suggest a church no bigger than St Columba's. Timber for both churches arrived on the brig Elrick from New Brunswick, Canada. Although little remains of the original church, the building's history and subsequent rebuilding are of interest

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77771659

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)