History - building the church

The building stone work of the church and adjacent premises is in Ballochmyle red sandstone while the grey stone work in the Chancel and front door is in fine grained Craiksland (quarried on the south side of Dundonald hill near Loans).

The overall cost of the building and completion of the Church, Church Hall, Manse, Church walls and grounds was very close to the accepted estimates. Extracts from the final statement of expenditure makes interesting reading:-

Builders: R.B. Armour and Sons, Lorne Arcade, High Street, Ayr £3623, 9s 10d
Joiner: J. & D. Meikle (established 1846), 44/46 Main Street, Ayr £758, 11s 11d
Plumbing McIlwraith Cowan & Co.,55 Newmarket Street, Ayr £187, 17s 10d
Slaters McIlwraith Cowan & Co.,55 Newmarket Street, Ayr £169, 6s 7d
Painters J. and B. Bennett, Wellington Chambers, Ayr £39, 9s 9d
  (Their head office was in Glasgow and they proudly advertised at the time as being painters and decorators to the late Queen Victoria)  
Heating J. Comb £95, 1s 8d
Ironmongery G. Boyd & Co £52, 3s 11d
Gas  Lamps J. Milne & Sons £58, 5s 0d
Stone Carvers J. C. Young £19, 16s 3d
Architect P. C. MacGregor £ 311, 0s 0d
Measurer W. D. Dinsmore £158, 7s 0d
Clerk of Works J. Buchanan £55, 0s 0d

Various small amounts certified by the Architect in addition to the above gave a total cost for the church and associated premises of       £5708, 3s 1d. The Trustees were left a balance in the bank of £39, 1s 9d.

This resulted in St Nicholas when opened in 1908 being free of debt, a wonderful achievement by the small group of people who met the challenge of their day by a great act of Faith and found the money and saw through with great foresight the building of a beautiful Sanctuary.