The church was indelibly impressive on account of its size. I had driven through the centre of Forfar, past the Parish Church, plus another en route, so what was this doing here? A church just too large, and grand, to be on the edge of Forfar. It looked as if it should be somewhere else: in the centre of a bustling metropolis; in some abbey grounds; or a religious retreat by a tree-lined river: anywhere but here, surrounded by domestic streets on the outskirts of a small market town.

Even the grounds are large: collegiate almost. Church, hall and manse are clearly designed and built as a whole. I expected a priest or monks to be wandering about, but it is a Church of Scotland and the minister, from the manse, kindly let me in. We entered via the side door past the office to emerge at the crossing- the transept, at the pulpit end of the church - to be surrounded on three sides by large stained glass windows. It felt akin to entering a theatre directly onto the stage with no preparation.

The impact was extraordinary. There was no other stained glass in the body of the church and I am not fond of stained glass, it is an acquired taste a bit like marmite, but that day I was bowled over.

The windows were designed and made by Douglas Strachan. The minister told me that they depict :

“Creation” – to the North

“Te Deum” or “Christ in Glory” – to the East; and

“Revelation” or “Apocalypse” - to the South.

At the time I barely took in any detail except the effect of how these vibrant windows related to one another. I was intrigued and perplexed. A triangular mystery. So I returned, attempting to work some of that out.

THE ARTIST

Robert Douglas Strachan (pronounced “Strawn”) is considered one of the most significant stained glass artists in the first half of the twentieth century, as William Wilson RSA, in a 1966 Obituary notice, explained:

“In the course of a long working life Douglas Strachan produced a tremendous amount of stained glass and the present generation owes him a great debt of gratitude for the way in which he lifted the craft of stained glass out of the depths of mediocrity and set it upon a height where it can bear comparison with any art form.”

Strachan was an artist. Born in Aberdeen in 1875, he studied at Gray’s School of Art and the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, working first in Manchester as a black and white artist on several newspapers from 1895 to 1897 before returning to Aberdeen.

He travelled to France and Italy in 1899 to study medieval and renaissance Italian art, including the work of contemporary French painters, and visited Chartres. His daughter said her father had been:

“enthralled by the medieval windows of Chartres – inspired above all by their luminous monumentality rather than specific details of style and technique.”

By 1909, Strachan had produced a number of stained glass works when he was sought to head the Crafts Section of the Edinburgh College of Art. However, he resigned in 1911 due to the volume of his own workload. Until he retired in the 1940s, Strachan worked primarily on stained glass commissions.

His output is impressive. By the time of his death, he had produced well over 300 stained glass pieces, but when this church was opened in 1914, he was 39, and still at the beginning of this aspect of his career.

Who commissioned him? The architect of the church, or the patron? Whoever it was, if they were after a ‘name’, Strachan had one. His reputation in stained glass had been sealed in 1913 by designing windows for The Peace Palace in The Hague: ironically, a year before the start of WWI.

THE CHURCH: PATRON AND ARCHITECT

So who built this extraordinary church? Lowson Memorial Church (pronounced Lau-son) is a memorial to John Lowson Junior, a wealthy Forfar mill-owner and Provost of the burgh. An additional church was considered required, as the other two town churches were full to capacity. Lowson was involved in the discussions for a new church but died in 1903 leaving his second daughter Mrs Elizabeth (Betsy) Steele to take over the project.

Bear with me, as I try to unravel why the church is so monumental. And why the stained glass windows are so impressive.

1903 was a time of fortunes made in railways, shipping and textiles. And a time to give back. Andrew Carnegie, another Scot still alive and kicking, was amongst the foremost urging the wealthy to contribute to society in the form of parks, works of art, libraries and other endeavours that would improve the community and contribute to the ‘lasting good’. John Lowson Junior’s daughters had all given generously to charitable causes, as had Mrs Steele’s husband who had donated a park to Forfar. So after his death, she wished to build the church in memory of her father.

Was there a competitive aspect to this Scottish philanthropic movement? If so, the Memorial Church bar had already been set high. The Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church in Paisley, erected in memory of Thomas Coats, founder of the thread manufacturers, had been completed only nine years earlier. It could seat 1000 and was called ‘The Baptist Cathedral of Europe’.  

I don’t say Mrs Steele was in competition, but if she was, this is what she was up against.

And so, she proceeded. In 1911, she offers the town a church of 600 to 800 sittings (this is Forfar, not Paisley) along with a hall and manse believed to be 10,000 pounds and an endowment of 160 pounds. They take it up.

She commissions the Aberdeen architects A. Marshall Mackenzie & Son. A firm which has royal patronage and a Who’s Who client list. Crathie Kirk (1893) for Queen Victoria. Mar Lodge (1895), Marischal College, Aberdeen (1904-6) and from their newly opened London office, the first, Waldorf Hotel (1908).

Mrs Steele had money, but she must also have had clout, to secure their services.

In ‘The Buildings of Scotland Dundee and Angus’, John Gifford succinctly describes the church as ‘prosperous Scots Gothic’, and goes on to describe a contemporary description:

“The style of architecture is the later Scottish Gothic – the most distinctly national of all our styles, and one whose character, at once rich and sturdy, seemed well suited to supply a memorial to an eminently sturdy and kindly Scot’.

THEMES OF THE STAINED GLASS WINDOWS

The monumental scale of the church required an interior to match. The nave and aisles are plain, so the focus is on the crossing, where the tower is on the exterior, and around which the three stained glass windows are placed.

From the 1880s stained glass had become common in all churches in Scotland. Themes favoured amongst the Presbyterians were the heroes and saints of the Old and New Testaments.

‘Creation’, which fills the North window, draws on the First Book of Moses, Genesis and includes Old Testament scenes. Opposite, the South Window depicts ‘Revelation’ from The Revelation of St John the Divine in the New Testament. In the middle East Window, “Te Deum’ or ‘The Life of Christ’ holds court.

The windows take us from the first to the last books of the bible.

Now let’s look at them, in the order they were installed.

EAST WINDOW: TE DEUM or CHRIST IN GLORY (Dedicated 14th May 1914)

For the worshippers entering through the West door, walking up the nave, this is the first window they would see. Seen from all parts of the church, with the pulpit and altar in front of it, this window dominates.

It is a straightforward design. The lower part depicts Christ’s earthly life, extending upwards through his heavenly life, with two tiers of angels, female seers, to the sun and moon at the top. Its themes are traditional: thickly embellished; and beautifully executed. Stories and characters fit neatly in their compartments with Christ central. It’s an expected composition for a church of this period.

In the church office there is a coloured drawing of Strachan’s initial design for this window. I will concentrate on only one area, to compare what Strachan originally proposed and what was eventually executed.

In the second tier from the top, below the sun and moon, he proposed crowds of angels in clear glazing.

In the final constructed window, this tier depicts the six Sibyls, prophetesses of the Old World who foresaw the coming of Christ. The Lowson Memorial Parish Church leaflet says: “They form a link between the pre-Christian and the Christian world of thought”. Indeed.

The prophetesses are: Hellespontia, Cumana, and Persica to the left; and Libyca, Phrygia and Delphica to the right. They are as powerfully coloured and prominent as any of the other male figures below.

I have an unsubstantiated suspicion that Strachan’s patron, Mrs Steele, wished to ensure that women were given their rightful place in the story. On top as it happens.

The next two stained glass windows were installed later to the right and left of this East Window. However, you don’t see them until you are much further up the aisle, nearer to the altar. Now here’s the shock and surprise. Strachan departs from the caged horizontal vertical design of the East Window to boldly create two huge circular stories.

In 1914 when the church was opened, these last two windows were in preparation but were the designs confirmed at that time? Lowson Memorial Church opened on the 14th May 1914, when the start of WWI was only eleven weeks away. The next window was dedicated two years later, whilst WWI was raging and its effects within the community must have been profound. Prophetically its subject is Revelation, the last book of the New Testament.

The Great War, WWI, must have had an effect on Strachan’s work. In the design of this second window, it seems as if two decades have passed, not just two years.

See what you think.

SOUTH WINDOW: REVELATION or APOCALYPSE (Dedicated in 1916)

The South window presents the vision of St John The Divine. He is in the foreground: hooded, haunted, cloaked, half veiled in red. Underneath are quotes from Revelation: ‘He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity’; ‘He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword’; ‘God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes’; and ‘There shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying’.

The circle is all-encompassing: the colours hot as hell. Red, purple, orange and white hot, as flames would flicker. Swirling figures. Three years ago, I didn’t need the minister to tell me this was Revelation.

John Gifford says Strachan’s works demonstrate ‘draughtsmanship on a small scale and are crowded but not undisciplined’. However, in this South window I feel as if the figures could spin out of control.

NORTH WINDOW: CREATION (Dedication 22nd November 1917)

One year later, the last window was installed. It maintains the circular theme of the opposite South window, but ‘Creation’ is calmer with its cool blue colours. The representation is more ordered and fixed. The swirling Days of Creation and signs of the zodiac form a backdrop to the key foreground characters, who ground this piece. Above them are the six rays of light symbolising the six days of Creation; reassuring you there was a plan.

‘Creation’ does not have the same impactful energy or anger of ‘Relevation’. Was Strachan asked to tone it down? WWI was still raging. Many of the congregation would have lost sons already. Did they need to be reminded of the devastation of war?

Certainly, as a composition, it has more of a connection with the central East Window, as the figures along the bottom read right to left in tidy order: harking back to a more secure time.

Whatever I think, these last two windows appear modern. Life had changed in the two years since the installation of the first window and would not return to where it was again. The windows reflect that. Hence why I was perplexed when I first saw them. All designed by the same artist, and yet so different.

One year after the installation of the last window, WWI ended on 11th November 1918. Strachan’s three windows both reflect and bridge this momentous time.

LOWSON MEMORIAL PARISH CHURCH, 1 JAMIESON STREET, FORFAR, ANGUS DD8 2HY

Tel: 01307 460576

lowsonchurch@gmail.com

Minister: Rev. Dr Karen Fenwick

kmfenwick@talktalk.net

(Image of Thomas Coats Memorial Church courtesy of ‘Coats Paisley’ website)

‘The Buildings of Scotland Dundee and Angus’ by John Gifford (2012)

‘Lowson Memorial Parish Church; Church and Windows’: Church Pamphlet

‘In The Beginning: The Lowson Memorial Parish Church, Forfar’ by A.B. Whyte. Published by The Forfar & District Historical Society (2004)

‘The Stained Glass Windows of Kilbrandon Church’: Church Pamphlet

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I almost completed the article when I discovered this excellent piece of research:

‘Aspects of Identity in The Work of Douglas Strachan (1875 – 1950)’ by Juliette MacDonald. Thesis submitted for the Degree of PhD at University of St. Andrews (2003)

www.visitstainedglass.uk is another site well worth the exploration.