Description

Alex C Dewar, Leven, 1914. Simple, gothic-fronted, rectangular-plan, apsidal, aisless church. Red Dumfriesshire sandstone ashlar porch, squared and snecked rubble to gable and red bricks to sides and rear. Moulded segmental-headed doorcase; pointed and hoodmoulded traceried window. 2-stage saw-tooth coped battered buttresses; stone and brick mullions.

NE (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: steps up to almost full-width battlemented porch with 2-leaf panelled timber door and decorative wrought-iron hinges, and continuous hoodmould with decorative finial; chamfered outer angles each with small traceried window. Celtic cross-finialled gable behind with large 5-light traceried window (figurative stained glass to centre light) and flanking attenuated slender pinnacles, outer angles with angle buttresses breaking eaves into crenellated screen.

SE ELEVATION: 4-bays each bay with square-headed bipartite window and dividing buttresses. Lower piended bay to outer left with door and adjacent window to right.

NW ELEVATION: mirrors that to SE.

SW ELEVATION: lower, piend-roofed elevation with bipartite window to centre bay, flanking single windows and further bipartites to outer bays. Basement access to outer right.

Multi-pane leaded glazing, stained glass (see below), and plate glass glazing in timber sash and case windows to rear. Westmoreland slates. Coped brick stacks; ashlar-coped skews and deeply overhanging eaves.

INTERIOR: hammerbeam roof springing from moulded corbels; sloping floor; all woodwork pitch pine, including boarded and panelled dadoes, and fixed pews with umbrella holders. Pointed apsidal arch to dais with timber pilasters, carved pulpit and panelling with doors; Baptistry to middle of platform. Stained glass by Mr Esplin (see Notes), 1938.

GATEPIER, GATES AND BOUNDARY WALLS: pyramidally-coped square-section gatepier to SE with decorative cast-iron gates (1 lying to side of opening) and terracotta-coped boundary walls.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. Upon his death in 1914, Ex-Provost John White bequeathed ?2000 and a site for building a new Baptist Church in Leven; also included in the bequest was an annual salary of ?300 for the pastor, as well as his home 'Sea Bank House' (listed separately). The church, with 300 sittings, was opened on 26th October, 1916 by Mr J G Shepherd (trustee of ex-provost Mr White's estate). Contractors employed to build the new church included Messrs William C Forrester, with masonry and joinery work by Robertson and Wilson; plastering and slate work by A and W Howie, all of Leven. Glazing was by Carron and Co of Kirkcaldy; ironwork by A J Main of Glasgow; and the tile and mosaic of the Baptistry was laid by Messrs Clunas and Co of Edinburgh. 1990 saw the erection of a church lounge, by Fleming Building of Lenzie; and a commemorative stone was laid by the family of John White. The single stained glass window was designed by Rev T G Esplin's son, a student at Edinburgh Art College, and donated by the Pastor and his wife.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77775572

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

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)