Description

Robert Baldie of Glasgow, 1870; Session House 1902. Simple Gothic, rectangular-plan aisless church with gable front, octagonal-spired tower and 5-bay nave. Stugged squared and snecked rubble with droved ashlar dressings . Base and string courses to narthex; eaves cornice. 2-stage saw-tooth coped buttresses; traceried W window, pointed-arch openings, hoodmoulds, label-stops, voussoirs, stone mullions and chamfered reveals.

W (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: 4 steps to centre bay with low flanking dies incorporated into base course leading to deeply moulded doorcase with paired nookshafts and hoodmould continuing over flanking small windows, broad 2-leaf boarded timber door and fanlight, and large decorative ironwork hinges; 4-light traceried window with hoodmould and decorative label-stops above. Flanking buttresses (that to right abutting tower, see below). Bay to left of centre with lancet under continuous hoodmould and buttressed outer left angle. Tower (see below) in bay to right.

TOWER: 3-stage, buttressed stair tower with bipartite window below arrowslit and monogrammed quatrefoil 'JSH' to 1st stage W, similar detail to S but with dated quatrefoil, outer angles flanking quatrefoils reducing (that to SW crowstepped) to octagonal 2nd stage belfry with hoodmoulded louvered openings; octagonal steeple with banded detail and decorative cast-iron finial.

S ELEVATION: simple 5-bay nave with window to each bay and 2 diminutive gablet-type roof ventilators; tower to outer left.

N ELEVATION: as above but with slightly projecting gabled stair tower to outer right, lancet to ground and bipartite window above.

E ELEVATION: almost full-width, low gabled bay projecting at ground, with raised centre tripartite window in gablehead.

Diamond-pattern leaded windows; multi-pane glazing with decoratively astragalled margins and tracery to W, and coloured glass to E. Grey slates. Coped ashlar gablehead stack and ashlar-coped skews with gablet skewputts.

INTERIOR: galleried nave; fixed timber pews, boarded dadoes, panelled gallery on cast-iron columns with stiff-leaf capitals. Ribbed ceiling and plain cornices. Carved Stations of the Cross; stained glass memorial window to Rev John S Hyslop, depicting St John (1901) and flanking WWI Memorial lights depicting Sts Peter and James (1922).

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. Built as the United Presbyterian Church at a cost of ?2,150, the building was known as the Relief Church until 1900 when the UP and UF congregations joined, and was then dedicated to St John as a tribute to Rev John S Hyslop whose initials appear on the tower. In 1975, after the congregations of St John's and the Forman Church unified to form St Andrew's Parish Church, the building became St Peter's Roman Catholic Church. The Session House was replaced in 1902 after being destroyed by fire, and a pipe organ (largely funded by Mr Carlow) was installed in 1907, but is no longer evident. Stained glass WWI Memorial Windows, by Mr Ballantine of Edinburgh, depicting Sts Peter and James, were installed in 1922.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17810432

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

• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
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  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
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  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House