Description

Fryers and Penman of Largs, 1907-1909. Gothic church with cusped tracery and half-engaged square-plan 4-stage tower. Lightly tooled grey granite ashlar finely finished to margins. Base-course; pointed-arched openings; curvilinear tracery; chamfered reveals; hood moulds; angle buttresses; eaves cornice.

N (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: asymmetrical; 5-bay with tower recessed to outer right. 3 bays to right advanced: flat gabled entrance bay advanced to centre, deeply chamfered doorway flanked to right by stone wall piscina with canopy, ironwork gates to porch, 2-leaf boarded timber door with decorative strapwork hinges; small window to left and right return, stone crucifix to apex; 2-light traceried window to flanking bay to left and right, flat-arched 3-light trefoil headed window to left and right returns. Small window above base course to penultimate bay to left, window to centre of bay to outer left.

W ELEVATION: asymmetrical; 2-bay.

TOWER: 3-stage tower with octagonal spire to bay to left; tall lancet window to 1st stage, window to left return of 2nd stage, bipartite windows to left and right returns of 3rd stage, carved grotesques supporting pierced corniced parapet, gableted bipartite louvred openings to each face of spire, ironwork weathervane finial to spire. Flat-arched bipartite trefoil-headed window to flanking bay to right.

S ELEVATION: asymmetrical; 6-bay. Gabled penultimate bay to right with lancet window to centre, boarded timber door with strapwork hinges reached by 4 stone steps and flanked by small lancet window to right return; 3 bipartite traceried windows to flanking bays to left of S aisle, 3 diamond-pane windows to clerestory; boarded timber door with strapwork hinges reached by 2 stone steps to vestry in bay to outer left; recessed chancel to outer right with trefoil headed lancet off-centre to left.

E ELEVATION: single bay, symmetrical, flat-gabled chancel; 5-light decorative stained glass traceried window, by William Morris and Co., to centre; foundation stone centred below reading "THIS STONE WAS LAID BY MARGARET LOTHIAN COATS OF GLEN TANAR. SEPTEMBER 30TH 1907". Stone cross to apex.

Decorative stained glass windows dating from the 16th century. Roof material not seen 1999. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: entered through porch to N. Timber shallow-pitched compartmental roof, decorative king posts on carved stone label stops. Carved oak gothic choir stalls, pulpit and altar table in chancel to E; carved stone font. Pointed-arched arcades to N and S aisles; chapel to E of N aisle; pointed-arched opening to W of nave leading to vestry, bell pulls still in place. Carrara marble memorial sculpture to W of S aisle, reproduction by Percy Portsmouth of the Carpaneto Monument by Scanzi; organ within arched recess to E of S aisle.

BOILER HOUSE: octagonal vertically boarded rustic timber former boiler house on granite base to S of church. 3 blocked window openings; boarded timber door to W, flanked by stone steps to basement. Rectangular wing advanced to S. Grey slate roof

GATES, GATEPIERS AND BOUNDARY WALLS: open timber-framed 2-leaf lych gate with slate roof. Battered granite gatepiers; battered granite rubble boundary walls to N, S, E and W.

Statement of Interest

St Thomas's Episcopal Church was presented to the Diocese by George Coats, 1st Baron of Glentanar, whose wife laid the foundation stone in 1907. It was consecrated by Dr Rowland Ellis, Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney in 1909. The Thomas's was the first purpose built Episcopal church in Aboyne. The church design is was modelled on the pre-Reformation church at Burrough-on-the-Hill, Leicestershire, differing only in that the chancel is longer, it is built of granite rather than sandstone and the window tracery is different. The bells were cast by John Warner of London, and the organ was built by Messrs. Abbott and Smith. The stained glass windows are of various ages and origins, the earliest dated pane reads "1584", some of the glass is of early 17th century Flemish origin, whilst other pieces shows the arms of merchant families. The memorial sculpture was erected by Margaret, 1st Baroness of Glentanar in memory of her husband.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17574367

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

• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)