Description

Shiells and Thomson, 1885, with sympathetic hall addition to SW by Matthew Steele, 1911, and later alterations, Kenneth Murdoch, 1998. Large cruciform Gothic church with Normandy details and 4-stage tower flanked by stair projections. Squared and snecked sandstone with ashlar dressings. Base course, cill courses, hoodmoulds, variety of window openings, predominantly chamfered, some round-headed, some pointed, trefoil and cinquefoil tracery, eaves course.

N (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: symmetrical with central projecting 4-stage tower, flanked by transeptal buttressed elaborate semi-octagonal stair projections with gabled entrances. Advanced central wide gabled entrance with slender engaged columns supporting pointed arch enclosing 'Burning Bush' motif. Tower stages separated by string courses, elevations mirrored, paired lancets on 2nd stage, Duke of Hamilton's coat of arms set below triple tall lancets on 3rd stage, paired louvred belfry openings to 4th, angle pinnacles clasp spire with lucarnes on alternate faces.

S ELEVATION: central chancel dominated by large 5-light geometric tracery window with hoodmould. Low vestry to right and later low hall addition by Steele to left.

W ELEVATION: buttressed nave aisles with 3 pairs of lancet windows, 4 large tripartite windows with cinquefoiled heads in clerestory above. To right, transept, 5 lancet windows with large 4-light geometric tracery window above. 3-bay stair projection with stepped lancets in re-entrant angle.

E ELEVATION: as for W elevation, but with entrance to left of transept.

To N 4-leaf 12-panel timber door with diagonal pattern flanked by similar smaller 2-leaf 6-panel doors. Excepting stained glass, windows predominantly glazed with small diagonal leaded panes. Grey slates, red clay ridge tiles, corniced ridge stack to Vestry.

INTERIOR: galleried, with 3 lofts, the Laird's under the tower, the Mariner's in the W transept, the Miner's in the E. 4-bay nave with pointed arch arcade supported by alternate round and octagonal ashlar columns. Cill course to clerestory. Timber roof springing from corbelled shafts. Ribbon-pointed rubble with ashlar dressings. Spaces under transept galleries and lower part of chancel partitioned off to form various rooms in 1998. Bow-fronted pulpit incorporating panels from previous parish church pulpit. En suite subtle gothic pale timber lectern, communion table and choir stalls. Plain timber pews. Various stained glass windows: large Ascension window to chancel by Wm Meikle & Sons, 1902-03. To W pair of windows by Wm Wilson, 1948, showing an airman and St Michael as memorial to RAF. Further windows by Meikle, Wilson, and Ballantine.

BOUNDARY WALL: low coped wall to N, higher stepped coursed rubble wall with semicircular coping to W, low stepped coped wall to E. Coped wall to S surmounted by plain railings, some damage to W.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. This large church sits up prominently within Bo'ness and looks out over the Forth. The Mariner's gallery has a ship suspended from the ceiling, as does the nearby Carriden Parish Church (see separate list description). The interior walls were stripped of plaster in 1928 and 1933, beginning with the chancel.

The Duke of Hamilton subscribed to the building.

One of a group of 3 churches in Bo'ness (Craigmailen UF and St Andrews Parish Church) which are located on a linear axis through the upper part of the town and dominate the skyline with their distinctive spires and elevated position.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17816157

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

• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)