Description

1803; alterations and additions 1912. Rectangular-plan, plain Gothic church with 4-bay nave, gabled N aisle; lower pitched chancel to E with adjoining vestry to SE, single storey porch to W, square-plan 3-stage tower centred in S wall. Predominantly harl pointed rubble sandstone (squared and coursed to SE elevation; weathered in part); droved and polished sandstone dressings; some cream ashlar sandstone to vestry. Raised base course; raised quoins; tooled long and short surrounds to pointed-arched openings (margins lightly droved in part); projecting cills; hoodmoulds surmounting E and W windows; gabletted skewputts. Square-plan tower with prominent quoins at base; corniced upper stages; square-plan columns to belfry.

SE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: engaged tower centred in E wall comprising recessed panelling at 2nd stage; pointed-arched, columnar birdcage belfry at 3rd stage (bell dated 1645 within); squat polygonal ashlar spire surmounted by finial. Regularly fenestrated in 2 bays to left and right respectively. Porch recessed to outer left with 2-leaf boarded timber door. Piended vestry advanced to outer right with single boarded timber door off-set to left of centre; taller chancel set behind.

NW (STREET) ELEVATION: gabled bay advanced at centre (N aisle) with rounded angles; corbel detailing beneath bracketed skewputts; single window aligned beneath apex. Single windows in bays recessed to left and right. Square-headed window centred in porch recessed to outer right. Lower gabled wing recessed to outer left (chancel); surmounting cruciform finial.

Replacement and modern applied glazing throughout: timber sash and case windows with intersecting tracery; fixed Y-traceried windows with applied lead-effect pattern. Grey slate roof; stepped stone skews; some cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: reoriented 1912. Boarded timber floor; stone slabs to chancel. Open timber hammerbeam nave ceiling with moulded sandstone springers; boarded timber barrel-vaulted ceiling to chancel. Boarded timber dado panelling; whitewashed walls above; chamfered timber cills. Timber pews (reoriented to face E in nave). Large sandstone segmental arch framing N aisle; pews facing S within. Decorative carving to timber pulpit; tooled sandstone blocks defining round-arched chancel arch; decorative carving and stencil panelling to timber communion table set within; timber chairs behind. Octagonal sandstone font

(Sir Robert Lorimer), 1910, given in memory of Alexander Low of Laws, senator of the College of Justice and elder of Whitsome parish. Predominantly replacement light fittings; wall-mounted decorative brass oil lamps flanking chancel arch. Boarded timber door accessing vestry to right.

BOUNDARY WALLS, GATEPIERS AND GATES: round-arched rubble coping to rubble sandstone walls enclosing site. Stop-chamfered, square-plan corniced gatepiers flanking entrance; pyramidal caps; decorative wrought-iron gates.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. Evidence of the existence of a church in Whitsome parish can be traced back to 1296, when parson Rauf de Hawden swore fealty to Edward I at Berwick. Set within the old graveyard (see separate list entry), the original church is recorded as having been a "...miserable thatched building" which was "...very ill-seated, narrow and incommodious". Thus, the building of the present structure - a simple, but nevertheless comfortable church which, prior to its reorientation in 1912, seated 239. Originally, the church was arranged internally about a pulpit which was centred in the S wall. The pews were set around it and a gallery ran around the N, E and W walls. What is now the N aisle was originally the vestry. The early 20th century changes saw the extension of the E end to form a chancel and the subsequent reorientation of the seating to face E (the gallery being completely removed in the process). The bell, which remains in place, is recorded as having been founded in Edinburgh. It is inscribed "Iacobus Monteith Me Fecit Anno Dom 1645" - "James Monteith made me AD 1645". Today, despite the mix of replacement and modern glazing, the church retains a degree of architectural interest. Here, gabletted skewputts, raised quoins and stepped skews adorn an otherwise simple whole, given an air of modest grandeur with its squat tower and bellcote. The boundary walls, gatepiers and decorative gates only further the overall interest.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56622844

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

• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)