Description

1844; converted to village hall, 1939. Symmetrical T-plan former Free Church advanced at centre with lower, single bay gabled block adjoined to outer left. Squared and snecked tooled cream sandstone rubble; ashlar dressings. Raised base course; narrow quoin strips; droved rubble quoins; long and short surrounds to openings. Square-headed windows at centre; pointed-arched windows with chamfered margins to flanking bays; sandstone mullions; chamfered cills throughout.

NW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 3-bay wing projecting at centre with 2-leaf timber panelled door centred at ground; architraved surround; engraved rectangular panel above; 5-light glazing row centred in gablehead; slit opening above; bipartite windows at ground flanking entrance. Pointed-arched windows in bays recessed to right and left. Single window centred in gabled bay slightly advanced to outer left; slit opening in gablehead.

SW (SIDE) ELEVATION: 3-bay gabled wing projecting to right with 2-leaf boarded timber door centred at ground; pointed-arched bipartite window above; pointed-arched single windows in flanking bays. Small single window at ground in bay recessed to outer left.

SE (REAR) ELEVATION: regularly-spaced pointed-arched windows.

Lying-pane effect opaque glazing in pointed-arched windows; modern glazing to remaining openings. Grey slate roof; tiered skews; gableted and bracketed skewputts. Replacement rainwater goods. Stop-chamfered, rendered apex stack to former vestry (?); squat circular can.

INTERIOR: stair off vestibule with timber treads, plain timber uprights, finialled newels, timber handrails. Former nave running SW-NE with boarded timber floor; plain plaster cornices; combed ceiling; stage now set to E end. Part-glazed and solid timber panelled doors. Sparsely-detailed upper meeting room.

BOUNDARY WALLS: low coped rubble walls enclosing site to front.

Statement of Interest

No longer in ecclesiastical use. Built as a Free Church following the 1843 Disruption. Ewing notes that by 1848, the congregation totalled 180. By 1900 however, this had fallen to 66 and in 1923, the church was dissolved. The plaque above the door records how the building was "...given to the people of Eccles as a hall in memory of James Greig of Eccles, 1868-1932, by his wife Margaret Eunice Greig and his son Dennis George Greig of Eccles A.D. 1939". The Greigs resided in the nearby Eccles House (see separate list entry). According to Binnie, the building "...has had a north aisle and gallery, but there are no church artefacts to be seen."

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77773529

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

• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)