Devine sights at Coats Memorial
With its soaring spires, bell towers, weathervanes and gargoyles, Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church dominates a dramatic Paisley skyline.
Visible from miles away, its redbricked, lantern pinnacle and eightarched crown-of-thorns tower spiral 240 feet above the High Street.
The sweeping stone stairway, rising to the main entrance, with its ornatelysculpted stonework, oak doors and wrought-iron lanterns, is like a ladder into heaven.
Previously, I told how the Gothicstyled church commemorates Thomas Coats (1809-1883), founder of the town’s famous J&P Coats thread-making empire.
During a recent visit, members Allan and Dorothy Driver guided me round the enormous edifice, which is justifiably lauded as the Baptist Cathedral of Europe.
Designed by Hippolyte Blanc, it is 165 feet long and 100 feet broad. Wooden pews seat 1,000 worshippers, with weekly congregations averaging around 60.
Derek Parker knew many of Paisley’s secrets – the grimy and the good.
He wandered every corner in search of the clues that would unlock Renfrewshire’s rich history.
These tales were shared with readers in his hugely popular Parker’s Way column.
We’ve opened our vault to handpick our favourites for you.
The black-veined, white marble baptistry, canopied by vaulted ceilings that are ornamented with inscribed scrolls, is approached across a Byzantine-style, mosaic patterned floor, decorated with 350,000 coloured stone fragments.
The baptistry is the serene setting for total water immersion of adult believers. This enshrines traditional Baptist Church christening ritual.
Fronting this revered receptacle, the oak-hewn communion table is stunningly embellished with carved angels, lilies, vine stems and wheat sheaves, which are symbolic of the Eucharist.
The solemnity of the shadow-shrouded sanctuary is luminously enhanced with exquisitely-crafted electric lamp pendants protruding from stone-ribbed walls.
A triumvirate of alabaster panels beneath three narrow lancet windows in the chancel wall incarnates sermons in stone commemorating Christ’s Adoration by the Magi, His Baptism and Last Supper.
The majestic Staffordshire marble pulpit is adorned with seven carved panels portraying Biblical figures like the Good Samaritan, Apostle Paul and Prophet Isaiah.
It’s like a divine revelation when the setting sun’s crimson rays beam through the west windows, gilding a golden halo round a Christ in Glory pulpit statue.
Doors open into the Deacons’ Room, where an awesome life-size painting of Christ’s Baptism sanctifies one wall.
The portrait towers above mural photographs of ministers over the last 118 years, including the Reverend Oliver Flett, who married into the Coats dynasty and sadly died a few weeks after the church was consecrated on May 13, 1894.
Mine of information