CATHEDRAL OF THE ISLES
MILLPORT, GREAT CUMBRAE
CHRISTINE McINTOSH
&
PAUL SCOTT
This is a site about The Cathedral of the Isles on the island of Great Cumbrae in Scotland. I am grateful to Christine McIntosh who lives close by, and has allowed the use of her photographs. We are regarding this website as being ‘in progress’, with hopefully some additional photographs being added in the New Year.
Satellite maps and a brief history of this Cathedral are given below. However, if you want to begin your tour of the Cathedral immediately, tap / click on START . You can also access intermediate points in the tour by a tap / click on the following links:
SATELLITE VIEW
The Cathedral of the Isles is located in Millport on the island of Great Cumbrae. To access the Cathedral from Millport, we travel north up College Street, and enter through the arch just south of Bute Terrace.
As usual for our websites we use liturgical directions where the direction East (with a capital E) is assigned to the direction in which the sanctuary is pointing. Since here the sanctuary is pointing geographically just about 20° north of east, this convention will cause no confusion.
The satellite view shows us that the Cathedral is made up of three main rectangles: the nave, the slightly smaller chancel and sanctuary, and then the the Lady Chapel in the Northeast corner. There is also the square tower in the Southwest corner. As well, and not possible to see from the satellite view, there is a rectangular anteroom just West of the Lady Chapel and adjoining the chancel.
In the grounds there is a graveyard to the Northwest of the nave. The rectangular North College contains apartments and is separate from the Cathedral. The South College also contains apartments. It is an L-shape which adjoins the Cathedral, but not in any functional way. The Eastern inside of the ‘L’ has a cloister and a tea-rooms.
HISTORY
Year Built: 1849
Address: College Street, Millport, Isle of Cumbrae KA28 0HE, UK
The Cathedral of the Isles and Collegiate Church of the Holy Spirit is a Category A listed cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church in the town of Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae. It is one of the two cathedrals of the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, the other being St John’s Cathedral in Oban. From 2021 the office of Provost has been held by Keith Riglin, Bishop of Argyll and The Isles.
History
George Boyle, 6th Earl of Glasgow, was benefactor of the cathedral and the associated theological college and commissioned William Butterfield to design the building. Butterfield was one of the great architects of the Gothic revival and also designed St Ninian’s Cathedral in Perth. Construction finished in 1849 and the cathedral opened in 1851 as a collegiate church. The Chapel of the College of the Holy Spirit was raised to the status of a cathedral in 1876.
Features
Formal gardens and woodland surround the cathedral, the tallest building on Great Cumbrae and the smallest cathedral in the British Isles. The tower dominates the buildings: at 123 feet (37 metres), the tower and spire are three times the length of the 40-foot (12-metre) nave.
In the entrance porch is an interesting collection of Celtic crosses, all of which were excavated on the island in Victorian times.
The stained glass is by William Wailes (West window) and Hardman & Co.
The organ is by Philip Wood of Huddersfield. It was installed in 2004, having been relocated from Logie Pert Parish Church, and replacing an organ by John Compton.
The organist is Alastair Chisholm, who was awarded a BEM in 2016 for services to music and culture.
Theological College
The theological college existed from 1851, for 34 years. From 1919 to 1927 the college buildings housed nuns from the Community of St Andrew of Scotland (CSAS).
For ten years from 1975 it hosted a community, the Community of Celebration Christian Trust.
The college is now a retreat house, the College of the Holy Spirit, and is open to the public to stay.
