Gallery
The gallery is reached through either of the doors at the sides of the vestibule. The stairs are hardwood with pine risers. The craftsman who built the stairway a century ago gave the handrail a graceful curve that makes the transition from the sharp angles of the stairway to the sweeping curves of the church interior itself.
From the gallery the great span of the church is visible and the series of side arches leads to the sanctuary. Above the gallery, the interior of the tower is visible. It is a remarkable sight, because the tower has no inner wall. The angled outer walls of the tower are in fact the end wall of the church, pierced by two sets of three windows. The tower is supported at the front by the two outer walls, its middle is held up by the arch connecting the two front corners of the church. Finally, its inner corner rests on the striking tall arch that, springing from either side of the main doors below, rises through the gallery floor to the ceiling above to support the tower’s rear edge. The result of this arrangement is that the gallery is remarkably open, high and light.
The glass in the top arches of the triple windows in the gallery displays pictures of musical instruments found in the Bible, in keeping with their position in the gallery which was the place of the choir in the days when the church was constructed.
Hymnal, Pan pipes, Lyre, Flute, Lyre, Harp
© 1992 (text) Terence Currie – Used with permission