Bethelfield Church, Nicol Street, Kirkcaldy, Kirkcaldy, Fife

Entry Name: Bethelfield Church, Nicol Street, Kirkcaldy

Listing Name: Bethelfield Place and Nicol Street, Linktown Church (Church of Scotland) and Hall with Boundary Walls and Gatepiers

Listing Date: 28 January 1971

Category: B

Source: Historic Scotland

Source ID: 381162

Historic Scotland Designation Reference: LB36388

Building Class: Cultural

ID on this website: 200381162

Location: Kirkcaldy

County: Fife

Town: Kirkcaldy

Electoral Ward: Kirkcaldy Central

Traditional County: Fife

Tagged with: Church building

Description

George Hay; 1831: hall 1897 further additions to rear 1952 and 1970. Rectangular-plan, classical, galleried Secession church and Jacobean hall. Stugged ashlar with rusticated quoin strips/pilasters and rubble with long and short ashlar quoins, and some raised margins. Base course, 1st floor cill course and cornice to S; eaves course. Round- and segmental-headed openings, keystones and voussoirs, and hoodmoulds. All openings segmental unless otherwise stated.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: broad gable end with advanced, segmental- headed, open-pedimented porch (circa 1900) to centre bay with deep-set 2-leaf panelled timber door and radial-astragalled fanlight; tall, round-headed, keystoned and hoodmoulded windows in flanking bays and deep-set panelled timber doors to outer bays. Pilastered, round-headed window in Venetian recess breaking cornice to centre above, and smaller blinded windows to outer bays; blind oculus in urn-finialled gablehead, and similar urn finials to outer angles.

W (NICOL STREET) ELEVATION: 4 tall windows to ground, and regular fenestration above; 2 small wallhead stacks above. Porch of hall adjoining to outer left.

E ELEVATION: as W elevation.

N ELEVATION: 2 tall traceried windows flanking centre and small oculus in gablehead. Hall (see below) adjoining at ground.

Small-pane timber, or multi-pane leaded glazing pattern throughout, round-headed windows with radial or intersecting arch-headed astragals. Stained glass to N. Grey slates. Coped ashlar skews and ashlar-coped stacks with cans.

INTERIOR: fine interior with timber, crocket-finialled pews with cast- iron umbrella racks; raked horseshoe gallery on 10 fluted, cast-iron Corinthian columns; original panelled front, and boarded pews to gallery. Raised chancel area with steps up to panelled timber pulpit below pipe organ, and flanking 3-light, cusped tracery, stained glass windows (probably 1931). Memorial chapel to NW (see Notes). Vestibule with 2-leaf part-glazed door and radial-astragalled fanlight, marble memorial to Rev James Law, died 1859, and WWI Memorial; flanking stone staircases with cast-iron balusters and timber handrails; decorative ceiling rose and plain cornice with decorative brackets.

HALL: single storey, rectangular-plan hall. Rock-faced squared and snecked rubble with dressed ashlar quoins. Cill course, eaves cornice and blocking course to porch. Pedimented and architraved windows, corniced doorway, corbelled stack.

W (NICOL STREET) ELEVATION: gabled elevation with 2 windows, each in Gibbsian surround with semicircular, broken pediment and decorative tympanum; blind plaque in moulded surround to centre in gablehead, corbelled to stack above.

S ELEVATION: largely abutting church at eaves line, but bay to outer left with stone porch and deep-set, panelled timber door with small- pane fanlight; small pedimented window with moulded apron on return to left. Timber-louvered cupola to centre of roof ridge.

N ELEVATION: 4 margined windows.

E ELEVATION: adjoining modern extension.

All windows margined, those to W and to porch retain small-pane leaded glazing; those to N with leaded margins and mainly 4-pane glazing pattern with top left pane louvered. Grey slates and terracotta ridge tiles. Cavetto-coped ashlar stacks with some cans, moulded ashlar skews and decorative skewputts.

INTERIOR: boarded dado and open-beam ceiling with corbelled brackets.

BOUNDARY WALLS AND GATEPIERS: low saddleback-coped and coped rubble boundary walls. Square ashlar gatepiers (3 free-standing and 1 pilaster) with stepped block caps.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. Now Church of Scotland. In 1991 Bethelfield and Invertiel churches were united, reinstating the former name of Linktown Church. The memorial chapel furnishings come from Invertiel Church. The 1740 Linktown church was a Burgher Kirk, built near the present gatepiers. Linktown was a Burgh of Barony from 1663 until 1876 when it was annexed by Kirkcaldy.

External Links

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