St Michael's Church, Eriskay

St Michael's Church
The church's south-facing main entrance, 2009 The church's south-facing main entrance, 2009
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Architecture
Architectural type	Gothic
Completed	1903 (1903)

St Michael's Church (also known as St Michael's of the Sea) is a Category C listed building in Eriskay, South Uist, Scotland. Of Roman Catholic denomination and built on the initiative of iconic poet and folklorist Fr. Allan MacDonald (1859-1905), who remains of the most important figures in modern Scottish Gaelic literature, the church dates from 1903.

Exterior

The church is a plain Gothic apsidal church with an adjoining presbytery. It stands on a hill overlooking the village from the north. It is built of coursed square rubble, with contrasting painted margins and long and short dressings. The porch at the south end of the east wall has a pointed doorway and a corbelled apex belfry. It has a cross finial, and its roof is made of slate.

Interior

Inside there is a triple-arched chancel screen. The altar is supported on a boat's bow, with a ship's lamp on a nearby column. The stone font in the porch may be from an earlier building. The iron bell to the northeast, on an iron frame, is from the SMS Derfflinger. It was recovered from Scapa Flow.

Gallery

• St Michael's Church, Eriskay 20090608 interior.jpg

  Interior

• Inside the Church of St Michael of the Sea - geograph.org.uk - 1357187.jpg

  Interior

• Eriskay church - geograph.org.uk - 951147.jpg

  Presbytery

• The Bell of St Michael's of the Sea, Haun - geograph.org.uk - 1357173.jpg

  Bell, recovered from the SMS Derfflinger

See also

• List of listed buildings in South Uist

External links

• Eriskay, St. Michael – Roman Catholic Diocese of Argyll and the Isles