Description

Alexander Wallace, 1878. 6-bay, gabled, rectangular-plan, gothic church. 3-stage, square-plan, entrance tower to NW. Squared and snecked, droved sandstone with ashlar detailing. Buttressed bays to sides.

NW (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION:

TOWER: 3-stage tower abutting nave to centre right; pointed arch doorway to centre, 2-leaf door with decorative strap hinges, roll moulded reveal with engaged colonnettes, paired hoodmoulded lancets above; string course dividing 1st and 2nd stage; moulded reveal to recessed, cusped arcading to upper part of 2nd stage, 2 narrow vents below within recessed rectangles; 3 lancets to upper stage with timber louvres; crenellated parapet with gargoyles to corners; recessed spire.

NAVE: lean-to aisle flanking tower; 2 bays to left, 1 bay to right, 3 hoodmoulded pointed arch windows to each bay, continuous cill course, larger pointed arch window to returns, gablet skewputts. Single, narrow nave bays flanking aisle with hoodmoulded tall lancet.

SE (REAR) ELEVATION: blank bay to outer left, single lancet to outer right, paired lancets to central bays.

SW (END) ELEVATION: large hoodmoulded 3-light stepped lancets to gablehead; modern extension abutting below.

NE (END) ELEVATION: large hoodmoulded 4-light pointed arch window with geometric tracery to central advanced gabled bay; flanked by canted lean-to vestry and secondary porch each with square-headed door to front, arrow-slit windows to return under Lombard frieze / corbel table.

Square leaded glass. Grey slates, lead flashing, cast-iron rainwater goods, coped skews and kneelered skewputts.

INTERIOR: 6-bay nave with western gallery. 2 arched arcade to N aisle, shallow choir. Polychromatic brick with colour bands, diaper pattern and stepped detail. Pulpit with carved floral pattern. Stained glass with stylised floral and Biblical designs.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. Alexander Wallace was a London-based architect probably commissioned by James Houldsworth of the Coltness Estate who paid for the erection of the church. The Houldsworths were a wealthy Yorkshire textile family who moved to Wishaw to exploit the coal and iron boom. They were responsible for extensive estate building works from their purchase of the estate in 1850 until the Great War. The church is of particular interest architecturally for its unusual Aesthetic Movement interior. Though difficult to locate in Newmains as it has been closely built around, it still acts as a dominant landmark from the surrounding countryside.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17825692

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback