St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Bornish, South Uist

Heritage listing

Category B Date Added 14/12/2020 Local Authority Na h-Eileanan Siar Planning Authority Na h-Eileanan Siar Parish South Uist NGR NF 73287 29703 Coordinates 73287, 829703 — St Mary's Church was built in 1837/8 and remodelled by A. R. Conlon around 1955. It is a 4-bay nave, rectangular-plan, church. Conlon added the gabled vestry to the west side and the gabled lady chapel, and a gabled porch and apsidal baptistry to the north gable. The nave has pointed arched windows. The roofs are slated and have straight skews and skewputts. On the north gable is a birdcage bellcote topped by a cross. — The rectangular plan form and steeply pitched roof is typical for churches of this period. The additions by a practice renowned for their Roman Catholic church work adds to the building's interest. Alexander Ritchie Conlon joined the architectural practice of Reginald Fairlie, becoming a partner in the early 1950s. Fairlie was a devout Roman Catholic and he was well known for Roman Catholic church design and renovation. His practice continued to design and remodel Roman Catholic churches after Fairlie's death in 1952. Bornish is a small settlement characterised by scattered crofts and the isolated setting of St Mary's Church, overlooking Loch Bhornais, makes it a landmark building. In the Western Isles places of worship are often the most prominent historic building in its location or community. While places of worship are not rare in Uist, St Mary's is a relatively early example of a Catholic Church in Scotland as it was built before the increase of numbers by the immigration of Irish Catholics following the famines of 1840s and 1850s. Although the Catholic Church was outlawed following the Scottish Reformation in 1560, Catholism survived in some remoter parts of Scotland, such as the

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.