Congregational Church, Cornaig

Heritage listing

Category C Date Added 04/11/2005 Local Authority Argyll And Bute Planning Authority Argyll And Bute Parish Tiree NGR NL 98368 47337 Coordinates 98368, 747337 — The Congregational Church in the settlement of Cornaig was built in 1856, to replace an earlier thatched-cottage type church building. The church at Cornaig is important to the religious history of Tiree as one of two surviving congregational churches built by The Rev. Archibald Farquharson, one of the most influential figures in the history of the island. The building is small and simple, rectangular in plan, squared rubble (mostly whinstone) with 2 bays to the nave and plain gabled ends. There are large whinstone quoins, and pink Mull granite lintels to the openings (see notes). Description: Entry into the building is through a raised single doorway to the centre of the S gable, with 3 stone steps to ground level and a timber boarded door. The N gable is largely plain, with evidence of a small window or alcove once sitting to the upper centre of the gablehead (now blocked) and topped by a small stone plinth with a slate cap. Each 2-bay nave has 2 evenly spaced window openings set close to the eaves. Here the large lintels are in stark contrast to the rubble walls, with only a course of rubble separating them from the wallhead, where the slated roof overhangs the wallhead resting directly onto the stone. Some iron fixings still remain attached to the margins of the windows, showing they were once shuttered. Beneath the right window on both nave walls are large, square holes in the stonework, which may have allowed drainage and ventilation beneath the raised, wooden raft-type floor inside. Interior: currently extremely dilapidated (2005), with some evidence of the original form remaining. The floor was timber boa

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.