Description

John Hayward, 1843; much interior detailing almost certainly by William Butterfield. Decorated English Gothic church; 4-bay aisleless nave and 2-bay chancel.

Entrance porch with organ chamber and choir loft to S; sacristy to N; Lothian family vault beneath chancel; bellcote to W. Dressed and snecked cream sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings; 2-stage angle buttresses and identical buttresses to all piers; cill courses; base course. Plate traceried windows to all bays to N and S, curvillinear to E and W; hoodmoulds to all openings with male and female heads as label stops. Boarded doors with wrought-iron hinges.

S ELEVATION: projecting gabled 2-stage porch to inner left bay; heavily moulded and chamfered doorframe with single pair of nookshafts; plainer internal doorframe to nave; string course and single light window above; gablet cresting to gable. Single bay to W, 2 bays to E. Octagonal stairtower to re-entrant angle to E; piend-roof terminates at eaves of nave. 2-bay chancel to far right, lower and slightly recesses; single light windows. Porch contains door to right in shouldered surround leading to choir loft.

W ELEVATION: gable end with 3-light traceried window. Ashlar gabled bellcote at gablehead; bell suspended in pointed arch opening.

N ELEVATION: 4 bays of nave to W; projecting gabled sacristy with door in stop-chamfered frame to right, approached by 4 ashlar steps; octagonal ashlar apex stack; rectangular bipartite window to W return wall; pair of similar single windows to E return. W return flanked by steps to crypt below. Single chancel window to E with steps to Lothian crypt below; open timber canopy with slated pitched roof.

E ELEVATION: 3-light traceried chancel window; Greek cross finial at gablehead.

Leaded windows with stained or grisaille glass; sawtooth skews, gablet skewputts; grey-green slates; gable at E end of nave with cross finial; lead flashing to ridge. Moulded eaves with gargoyle rainwater spouts; flagged surround at ground with incised drainage channel.

INTERIOR: decorative tiled pavement; carved panelled gothic dado at W end of nave; Caen stone pulpit corbelled ou of NE corner of nave with panelled door in chamfered ogee-arched stone surround direct from Sacristy; carved oak pews; organ chamber and choir loft above porch now closed off (used as choristers vestry, access being from porch); open timber roof to nave (seems once to have been stencilled). Rendered walls. Heavily moulded chancel arch. Elaborate carved oak screen and rood. Luxurious high church fittings to chancel; lavish Minton tiles to floor and walls; carved stone tripartite sedilia in S wall, with piscina to E; Caen stone altar with quatrefoil panels; N wall with organ introduced in arch to sacristy; richly stencilled waggon ceiling (choir stalls introduced later).

LYCH GATE: designed by William Butterfield, 1844. Thin curved oak braces supporting slightly bellcast pitched roof; terracotta tiles.

BOUNDARY WALLS: stepped rubble walls with moulded ashlar coping.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. Hayward was chiefly notable for his restorations of west country churches in England, but Butterfield's influence can be detected, given his appointment by the newly formed Camden Society in 1843 as agent for the manufacture of Church furnishing (he designed the silver altar vessles at St John's, and perhaps also candlesticks and a crucifix); the interior of the earliest and finest examples of a Camdenian sanctuary in Scotland. Butterfield's earliest complete church is usually stated to be Coalpitheath, Glos, of 1844 and his contribution here may predate that, making it particularly important. He also designed the much altered schoolrooms to the N (now the church centre - see separate listing). The church was paid for by the Lothian family, and the foundation stone laid by Lady Lothian (a co-foundress of the Camden Society) in July 1843; it was consecrated 13 months later. The lych gate is one of very few in Scotland.

The Anna, a portion of land to the E of the church was the scene of religious gatherings of the early Secession and Relief churches in the 18th century.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17567958

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.

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