Description

1861. Simple rectangular-plan former Free Church with 4-bay aisless nave, gable bellcote, pointed arch openings, and louvered oculus. Sited in small group with former manse, ancillary incorporating stable, coach house and Sunday school, and walled garden. Ashlar with harled sides and rear. Voussoirs and chamfered reveals.

Further Description:

S (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: symmetrical gabled elevation. Boarded timber door to centre with louvered oculus above, tall lancets in flanking bays and stone bellcote in gablehead.

E AND W ELEVATIONS: each with 4 tall lancets.

N (REAR) ELEVATION: gabled elevation with 2 tall lancets, small pitch-roofed porch at outer left and low timber structure at right.

Leaded diamond pattern glazing. Grey slates. Polygonal can to squat gablehead stack at N and ashlar-coped skews with moulded skewputts.

BOUNDARY WALLS: coped rubble boundary walls with coped, square-section ashlar end pier at SE.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building no longer in use as such. Group with Auld Kirk House (former Free Church manse). The Free Church group represents a fine, virtually unaltered example of a small charge which became the focal point of religious life in the Glen owing to its more convenient siting than the Parish Church. Locating a site for the new Free Church was not easy, and the Free Church Annals record that 'After great difficulty and much discouragement a site was obtained at Balnacraig in 1861, and a church and manse were erected'. The Third Statistical Account recognises that 'As there are no other denominations, the church is part and parcel of the life of the community', and continues 'There is, ' , a genuine regard for the church'. Decommissioned in 1983, the building was sold to the current (2006) owner a decade later. The Sunday school was held in the single storey building situated to the rear of the manse.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77779479

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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