St Ninian's R.C. Church, Victory Avenue, Gretna

Heritage listing

Category B Date Added 03/08/1971 Local Authority Dumfries And Galloway Planning Authority Dumfries And Galloway Parish Gretna NGR NY 31755 67458 Coordinates 331755, 567458 — C E Simmons, dated 1917. Byzantine-style church, all brick-built with pantile roofs; openings mostly round- headed. Aisled Latin cross-plan, with octagonal drum over crossing; paired clerestorey lights; pilaster strips to bays and to upper level of W gable; recessed round-arched blind panels to canted tall apse and flanking W door; twin-gabled "side chapels" abut transepts. Interior: walls exposed brickwork, aisle arcades with paired arches to bays; plastered vaulted ceilings. — The Anvil Hall is a distinctive red brick former Roman Catholic church dominated by its Byzantine octagonal tower. The building is notable for its varied roof heights, with gables, apse and tower and its tight composition. Red brick is the main building material in Gretna, and is an uncommon building material in Scotland, particularly for domestic housing, and also for churches, as here. There is some fine detailing in the brick dentil decoration and detailing around the windows. Built in 1916-18, the town of Gretna was constructed to provide housing and community facilities for the workers of the nearby munitions factory. The government was concerned during the course of the First World War that there was a lack of ammunition for the British troops, and it commissioned a large munitions factory to be built. This stretched for 9 miles along the banks of the Solway and produced Cordite explosives. Thousands of workers were brought in from around Britain and Ireland to work at the factory and temporary timber and more permanent brick housing was erected to accommodate the builders of the factory and its workers. The township w

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.