Description

1742, altered 1890; circa 1748 exterior stairway. T-plan with adjoining Session House. Droved coursed rubble, later smooth ashlar porches. Long and short rusticated quoins and moulded cornice. Skew gabled.

W (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: gabled entrance porch: planked arch headed door in receding archway with hood-mould, modern notice boards flanking, triangular skews with stone cross at apex; adjoining lean-to porch, arch headed narrow window with architraved surround to each flank, eaves course, triangular skews with pedimented skewputts; adjoining main church wall: central arch headed window with prominent margins and keystone, plain skews with squared putts; gablehead bellcote (dated 1742 and 1973) with corbelled base, rectangular openings showing original bell, moulded cornice and ogival top with pommel surmounting; square window with projecting margins to left return, eaves course.

N ELEVATION: central entrance porch with roof, entrance door on right return; square window with projecting margins to each flank, wheel window with raised margins to 1st floor, triangular louvred vent to gablehead, plain skews with squared putts and gablehead finial; L-shaped external stone stair with shaped copes and end capitals leading to 2-storey square extension with entrance door and small glazed fanlight above, lean-to single storey extension with entrance door in re-entrant angle, tall chimney stack above to right return; square window to ground floor, arched window to 1st floor on left return, small chimney on apex.

E ELEVATION: skew gabled porch off centre right: round arched window, smaller square porch with entrance door to left return; main wall of church: round arched window with projecting keystones and margins to centre, plain skews with squared putts and gablehead finial; small square window to ground floor on right return.

S ELEVATION: central Session House: pair of Gothic lancet windows, square sundial (dated 1742) with projecting rounded pediment above, chimney stack with projecting margins and neck cope and single replacement can to gablehead, plain skews with scrolled putts; tomb stones inset to returns. Paired round arched windows flanking Session House.

12-pane timber sash and case windows to most; wheel window to N gable; arched sash and case to E porch; arched fixed square quarry windows to S and W elevations; 2-pane timber Gothic lancets to Session House gable end. Piended slate roof with zinc ridging, flashing and valleys. Replacement grey plastic rainwater goods to most.

INTERIOR: plastered segmental groin vaulting, pilastered and heavily corniced woodwork; Colliers' panels (dated 1732 and 1737) from old church: marbled framing, small pilasters with arabesques on a black background, names in gold leaf and trade implement designs; rearranged seating (1819); pair of circa 1830 Grecian Ormulu pendants; remodelled 1890, Session House now apse with oak pulpit, font and chair from Lady Gardiner; 1897 reading lectern presented by the Women's Guild and Kirk Session; wall text behind the lectern reads "COME UNTO ME ALL YE THAT LABOUR AND ARE HEAVILY LADEN"(Matthew 11.20).

Statement of Interest

B-Group with Watch House, Kirkyard Boundary walls and gatepiers. The church was built as a replacement for the older Kirk to the S of the parish. The colliers of the area had to submit a new petition to the Kirk to allow them to worship here. They paid money towards the gallery built in the W arm, which was accessed by steps from the exterior. The loft door from the original Kirk was fitted. This has a small hole at eye level with a cover that swings from side to side. A long wooden pole could be inserted and used to prod inattentive listeners to the sermon or those who had fallen asleep. The Kirkyard has many aged gravestones and tombs, and a tree believed to have been planted as a sapling when the church was built. A new manse and church hall was built adjacent in 1968, to replace the older building now called Chalfont and listed separately. 1973 saw the original bell restored, and this date has been carved into the bellcote wall near the church's original date.

Scheduled Monument.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17828446

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

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)