Description

John James Stevenson, 1898-1902. Scottish gothic church, with tall 2-stage tower and crown spire; asymmetrical; lower church and caretaker's house. Sited on ground falling sharply to River Kelvin.

Red sandstone ashlar, lightly stugged, squared and snecked, bull-faced to lower church and crypt. String and band courses. Chamfered arrises to principal openings with architraved surrounds. Cusped, curvilinear tracery.

W ELEVATION: Scottish 15th century gothic, gabled with crowsteps, entered from high-level bridge, Belmont Street, tower adjoined to left. Angle buttresses, set-off. Pointed arch doorway at centre; roll-moulded door surround, 2-leaf panelled doors, ashlar lintel; blind, traceried fanlight. Doorway flanked by angled nook-shafts with crocketted pinnacles and pointed arch, 3-light, traceried windows. Large, Y-traceried, 6-light pointed arch window above and cross finial.

TOWER: square with diagonal, off-set, angle buttresses. Tall 1st stage containing stair; entrance to N aisle by door on EW elevation, 2-leaf, with carved detail above lintel; further door below bridge, 2 segmental-arched, 3-light windows lighting stair to N; rectangular, 2- and 3-light traceried stair windows above, to N and W, small window at eaves level to W. Upper stage with 2, pointed arch louvred and traceried openings with deeply chamfered, moulded surrounds, to each face. Corbelled ashlar parapet featuring carved animals to corbel course, below crocketted ashlar crown spire with pinnacles tied into substantial, decorative, off-set gothic apex. Lighting conductor.

S ELEVATION: 5-bay lean-to 2-0storey aisle including lower church hall; by 3 round-arched 4-light traceried windows lighting hall at centre, pointed arch 2-light to outer left and 2 rectangular windows below round-arched window to outer right; ashlar masonry to aisle above with small, paired quatrefoil windows to each bay except outer left with single quatrefoil. 5 bays to clerestorey with pilasters dividing bays; paired pointed arch traceried windows to each bay, single window to outer left. Coped, crenellated parapet.

N ELEVATION: tower to right, 3 gabled bays to left. 4 windows to crypt; 6 irregular rectangular windows to lower church hall; paired pointed arch traceried windows lighting inner aisle, with crocketted pinnacles to dividing pilasters breaking string course to gabled clerestorey bay above, each with large rose window bearing individual tracery.

E ELEVATION: English 14th century gothic; shallow, canted apse with crenellated parapet, angle buttresses and pinnacles adjoined to gabled nave. Blank, parapetted bay to right.

CARETAKER'S HOUSE: adjoined to lower church at E elevation; harled, asymmetrical 2-storey house with canted, flat-roofed porch to left of canted centre bay breaking eaves with tripartite window in gablehead.

Some lead guttering. Leaded glazing. Green slates.

INTERIOR: irregular. Arcaded aisles to nave with polygonal ashlar columns; 2-storey, 3-bay, elliptical-arched arcade to N with panelled, timber gallery; gallery continuing to W; low segmental arches to S aisle. Whitewashed walls. Panelled timber soffits to ceiling flanking timber vault. Organ to E end. Communion table (sycamore) and elders' chairs (oak), Alfred Lochhead 1939. Later stained glass windows, Gordon Webster.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. Built as Nathanial Stevenson Memorial Free Church. Stevenson had designed the church after a brief return visit to Glasgow from his London office, and was assisted by Henry Redfern. Parallels may be found in Stevenson's design of the Peter Memorial Church, Stirling.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17568951

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

• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)