St Mary's Episcopal Church, Musselburgh Road, Dalkeith, Dalkeith, Midlothian

Description

William Burn and David Bryce, 1843; chapel and transept Arthur W Blomfield, 1890. Early English gothic church. Nave running E-W, chancel to E and chapel and transept to NE. Stugged sandstone ashlar. Moulded coping to base course. Chamfered cill course. String course below parapet. 2-light lancet windows. Moulded and hoodmoulded surrounds; staff-leaf capitals to nook-shafts. Gablet capped set-off buttresses, including angle buttresses, with small gargoyles. Moulded gablet-coped skews. Grey slates; broad grey slates to S pitch of nave and to vestry; leaded roof to chapel and to N pitch of chancel.

W (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 5-bay arcade at ground; moulded; pointed-arched doorway at centre in taller gabled bay, deeply chamfered with nook-shafts; 2-leaf boarded doors with elaborate scrolled ironwork by Potter of London; paired cusped arches flanking doorway, blinded with polished ashlar. Wheel window above. Moulded course following gable line. Gabled bellcote with cusped bipartite opening and 2 small bells.

S ELEVATION: 5-bay. Windows divided by buttresses. Chancel and vestry to right.

CHANCEL AND VESTRY: gabled chancel with lower eaves line projecting at centre of gabled nave; stepped 3-light window to right to S; cross finial. Gabled vestry advanced from re-entrant angle on S return; shouldered-arched doorway to W and geometric traceried 2-light window

to S. Chapel set in re-entrant angle to N.

N ELEVATION: 4-bay. Gabled porch in bay to right of centre; moulded pointed-arched doorway to N, with nook-shafts; stone slab roof; elaborate stone finial. Windows in remaining bays, divided by buttresses. Transept adjoined to left.

CHAPEL AND TRANSEPT: L-plan, with chapel to E and transept to W, with porch in re-entrant angle. Moulded reveals to lancet windows. Moulded course below parapet raised to follow gable lines; cross finials.

TRANSEPT: gabled to N; 2-light window, cinquefoiled oculus above. 2 single light windows to W. Porch adjoined to E return.

CHAPEL: set in re-entrant angle between chancel and transept. Gabled to E; stepped 3-light window, cinquefoiled oculus above. 2 stepped 3-light windows in hoodmoulded pointed-arched panels, divided by buttresses, to N; porch adjoined below window to right, with 3 single light windows and trefoil filligreed parapet to N, and pointed-arched doorway to gablet-coped E elevation, raised as continuation of buttress.

INTERIOR: timber double-hammerbeam roof with stone corbels to nave; chancel and chapel ashlar rib-vaulted , with decorative bosses and corbels. Pointed-arched surrounds with clustered colonnettes and stiff-leaf capitals.

NAVE: stone corbelled pulpit in SE re-entrant by Burn and Bryce, with blind cusped arches, quatrefoiled course and extensive foliate carving to corbel; entered from vaulted stairway from chancel.

CHANCEL: pointed chancel arch. Cusped blind arcaded reredos by Benjamin Ferrey. 2 arches to N Chapel.

ORGAN GALLERY: sited to W. 8-bay cusped arcade with pierced trefoil filigreed parapet; boarded doors in 2 bays at centre, remaining bays blind. Hydraulically blown organ by Hamilton and Miller of Edinburgh, 1846; gothic timber casing by Bryce.

MEMORIAL CHAPEL: S Gambier Parry, 1913. 2 bays to S; recumbent marble effigy of 5th Duke of Buccleuch, begun by Edgar Boehm and finished by Alfred Gilbert, 1892, in bay to left; wrought-iron screen in bay to right; wrought-iron gateway to tall pointed arch to transept. Marble dado and pavement. Crypt below.

ENCAUSTIC TILES, decorated with Buccleuch heraldic shields, to aisle, crossing and chancel. Octagonal font with marble-shafted base by Benjamin Ferrey. Oak choir stalls designed by William Butterfield and made by F and W Vigers, 1846. Poppyhead pew ends. Brass eagle lecturn. Original iron light fittings.

STAINED GLASS: E chancel window and wheel window by Ward and Nixon of London, 1845. Window in bay to left of centre to N. Paired lancets to N in transept in memory of 6th Duke of Buccleuch by A K Nicolson, 1927. Window to E and 2 windows to N in chapel by James Powell and Sons, 1913-15.

LAMP STANDARD: decorative cast-iron lamp standard to W.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. St Mary's Chapel was commissioned by Walter Francis, 5th Duke of Buccleuch as a private chapel. The design was by Burn, and Bryce superintended the building from 1844-54. Benjamin Ferrey superintended the carving of the capitals and bosses.

The Chapel was consecrated and opened for worship in 1854. The Chapel, which could accommodate 250, was used by the Buccleuch family and servants of the Estate, and was also open to Episcopalians in the area. In 1958 it was transferred to the congregation.

St Mary's Episcopal Church features the last remaining water driven combined organ and bells system in Scotland. St Munn's Church, Kilmun is the only other remaining water driven organ in Scotland made by Norman and Beard in 1909

External Links

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