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9.0.2111 1033	Our church is unique in having furnishings designed in 1904 by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the world renowned Scottish architect and designer. The suite of chancel furniture consists of pulpit, organ screen, communion table, choir stall and Ministers chair. Over the years some pieces of the suite have been removed at the convenience of former ministers and choirmasters unappreciative of the significance of Mackintosh at the time. Now 100 years on, new pieces have been added but the design elements remain immediately recognisable in the new Baptismal font, Chancel steps and the four oak chairs .
	The connection between Mackintosh and Bridge of Allan Parish Church begins with a sum of £880, which was donated in November 1903 by two ladies of the congregation (Mrs Whitelaw of Allangrange and her daughter Mrs Fitzgerald) to be used towards “improving and modernising the church organ”. (See sections on the organ and the Kempe Window).
	It was realised that these alterations would affect the chancel furnishings and the minister at that time, the Rev. Duncan Cameron, was instructed to consult with a member of the congregation, Mr John Honeyman, who had been Chairman of the Trustees until 1901, and was a partner architect in the Glasgow firm of Honeyman and Keppie. (Honeyman designed the adjacent halls and beadle’s cottage in 1895).
Detail from Pulpit	It was to this same firm that Charles Rennie Mackintosh was apprenticed in 1889 and became a partner in 1904, at the age of 36. While we have found no written record that John Honeyman invited Mackintosh to produce a design for new furnishings, the evidence of church records and of the Job Book and Day Book kept by Honeyman and Keppie confirms the involvement at a time when Mr Honeyman retired from the firm. There is also an unconfirmed link with Mrs Fitzgerald one of the ladies mentioned earlier being a cousin of Mackintosh. (Note also the relationship between Mrs Whitelaw and the Kempe stained glass window).
The Organ Screen	The year 1904 is the period in Mackintosh’s life when the Hill House in Helensburgh was completed, and the previous year he had designed the Willow Tea Rooms in Sauchiehall Street for Miss Cranston. The Minutes of the Trustees record that plans were submitted for the furnishings in oak at a cost of £200, including professional fees, the work to be carried out by John Craig, Joiner, of Glasgow, who is known to have carried out other work for Mackintosh.
The Communion Table	After the furnishings had been completed and installed in June 1904 there was some concern about the height of the organ screen and a meeting with the architect was requested. The minute of the meeting of 13 July 1904 records the presence of “Mr Mackintosh, Architect” and reports that “the meeting had under consideration the height of the organ screen which some considered too great, and Mr Mackintosh explained that all the drawings had been before the Committee and approved of, and it was finally agreed to do nothing further in the meantime.”
Detail from Communion Table	Mackintosh’s involvement is also recorded in his handwritten entries in the records of Honeyman and Keppie, now Keppie Architects, which show the quotations obtained for the work at Bridge of Allan Parish Church, the payment made to John Craig of £179.5.6 and the architect’s professional fee of £20 which was reduced from £25 after an appeal by the church trustees that this sum was too great!
The Choir Stall and modern reproduction font	Unfortunately no drawings have been found of the Sanctuary Furnishings but they contain many of the classic motifs which have come to be associated with Mackintosh. They consist of four distinct elements - pulpit, communion table and chair, organ screen and chancel rail. While each is distinct, all four emphasise organic forms and characteristic Mackintosh forms of ovals and flutes. The tracery of the three pendant panels in the organ screen echoes those in the library of the Glasgow School of Art and the gallery of Queen’s Cross Church, Glasgow, the headquarters of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society.
Detail of choir stall and glass bowl in font	It is clear from a photograph of the Church taken in 1923 that the suite of furnishings also included choir pews with ornate pew ends which faced inwards to the Communion Table. Sadly these are no longer in the Church and their fate has not yet been fully established though records show that the pew ends were incorporated into a sofa that was stored in the church before disappearing. It is also possible that the original design of the organ screen included three chairs, which would be traditional in the Church of Scotland, placed beneath the three panels of the organ screen but no evidence for this has been found.
Detail of carving in the organ screen	The chancel furnishings at Bridge of Allan Parish Church not only display a unique and intricate three-dimensional quality in their design, but also the remarkable skill of John Craig, the craftsman who executed them. Close inspection of each motif will reveal the delicate and exacting nature of the carving in order to reproduce accurately repeated patterns. All the furnishings have been worked in light oak which is said to be a difficult wood for carving. It is believed that this is the most intricate design in wood by Mackintosh and there is nothing so unique as this Chancel furniture.
Original step centre rear reproduction steps and carving in foreground	Original Minister’s Chair with two modern reproductions
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