St Edward's Church, Sanday, is a deconsecrated, and now disused church on the small isle of

Sanday, Inner Hebrides Sanday (; ) is one of the Small Isles, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It is a tidal island linked to its larger neighbour, Canna, via sandbanks at low tide, and also connected to the larger island by a bridge. Canna and Sanday form a single ...

, Scotland. The church was a gift to the people of Canna and Sanday from Gwendolyn Fitzalan-Howard, the 3rd Marchioness of Bute, who had it erected as a memorial to her father,

Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Glossop Edward George Fitzalan-Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Glossop PC (né Howard; 20 June 18181 December 1883), styled Lord Edward Howard between 1842 and 1869, was a British Liberal politician. He served as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household under ...

, who had died in 1883. At the time, the islands were owned by the Thom family, though permission was willingly given by them, despite the fact that they were not Catholics, and would later build the Protestant St Columba's Church on Canna in 1912. Designed by William Frame, who was architect to the Butes, St Edward's was built between 1886 and 1890. The

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

course in the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was supplied by Thomas Nicholls. Both of these men would later work on now-famous buildings in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, where the Marquess owned

Cardiff Castle Cardiff Castle () is a medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion located in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. The original motte and bailey castle was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top of a 3rd-century Roma ...

; the most prominent examples being the

Pierhead Building The Pierhead Building () is a Grade I listed building in Cardiff Bay, Wales. It was built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company. The Pierhead Building is part of the estate of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ), which also includes ...

Castell Coch ; ) is a 19th-century Gothic Revival castle built above the village of Tongwynlais in Wales. The first castle on the site was built by the Normans after 1081 to protect the newly conquered town of Cardiff and control the route along the River ...

and the Animal Wall. At the time, the islands already had a Catholic chapel, dedicated to St Columba, which had been built on Canna in . After St Edward's was built, the old church was converted into a shop and post office. The populations of Sanday and Canna declined during the 20th Century, with their combined inhabitants now numbering around 30. In the face of this loss of parishioners, the church began to suffer from structural deterioration and closed in 1963. Services have now been moved back into the old St Columba's chapel on Canna (a replacement post office was built nearby). The former church received Listed status in 1985. After closure, the church was used as a hostelry, and in 2001, was converted into a Gaelic study centre at the cost of £860,000. This was not a successful venture, as it was reported in 2010 that the centre had never been used, and was once again suffering from water damage. By 2016, it was once again disused.

Gallery

File:Church on Isle of Sanday - geograph.org.uk - 51539.jpg, The church under repair in 2005 File:St Columba's Chapel - geograph.org.uk - 880022.jpg, The c.1770 Catholic chapel of St Columba. A post office whilst St Edwards operated. Now once again a church File:Canna Post Office - geograph.org.uk - 880029.jpg, The new post office opened when the chapel reverted to its former purpose File:St Edward's Catholic church, Sanday - geograph.org.uk - 902304.jpg File:Church on Sanday.jpg, A view of the church taken from Canna with Rum in the background

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanday, Saint Edward Roman Catholic churches completed in 1890 Former Roman Catholic churches in Scotland Canna, Scotland 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom