Old Photograph Sacred Heart Church Cowie Scotland

Old photograph of Sacred Heart Church in Cowie located four miles South East of Stirling, Scotland. A brick church by Reginald Fairlie in 1937. A pyramid-slated octagon with projecting porch and sanctuary. Inside, steel lattices support the roof structure. Reginald Fairlie was born on 7 March 1883, at Kincaple, Fife, he was the son of J. Ogilvy Fairlie of Myers and Jane Mary Fairlie. He was educated at the Oratory School in Birmingham, England. He was apprenticed to Robert Lorimer in 1901 and much of his style echoes that of Lorimer. A faithful Roman Catholic, Fairlie designed many war memorials, churches and restorations of castles. He served in Royal Engineers in World War I. His older brother John Ogilvy Fairlie was killed in action on 25 September 1915. With the death of his father on 28 September 1916 Reginald fell heir to the family estate of Myers. In the early 1920s he designed a series of war memorials, largely working with the sculptor Alexander Carrick. Fairlie lived the life of a bachelor with a personal servant, Robertson, serving him faithfully until death in 1938. He leased Inchrye Abbey from 1931 to 1939 for shooting parties and falconry. Work ceased on most projects during World War II, including his major commission for the National Library. The work on the library did not resume until 1950. Fairlie died in St.Raphael’s Nursing Home in the Grange, Edinburgh but was buried with his parents in the Eastern Cemetery in St Andrews, Fife.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.