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Summary

Description

1839. Rectangular-plan, gabled, Gothic Revival church. Rubble entrance elevation with ashlar dressings including straight quoins and moulded skews. Steps to Gothic, four-centred arch doorway with flanking windows. Stone-mullioned window above. Castellated, square-capped belfry at gable apex, corbelled out at base. Harled walls to sides and rear. Pointed windows, three to each side.

Statement of Special Interest

The former Kilbride Chapel of Ease, of 1839, is a good, largely unaltered example of a small Presbyterian parish church in the Gothic Revival manner with pointed-arch windows, in a remote and scenic rural setting, including a contemporary graveyard. The original plan form and profile of the Kilbride chapel are intact and the simple design recalls the early Reformation tradition of church building in Scotland.

The revival of medieval architectural forms in Britain during the early 19th century was partly a reaction to the rapidly changing industrial landscape and the perceived loss of traditional skills to machine and factory production.

The Kilbride Chapel of Ease was built on the Lamont Estate as a Chapel of Ease for those living in and around the villages in the southern part of Kilfinan parish including Millhouse, Kames and Tighnabruaich. It is located eight miles south of Kilfinnan Parish Church and three miles north of Ardlamont House (see separate listings). The scenic coastal bays of Ascog and Kilbride are also nearby to the east.

It shortly predates the Disruption of 1843 which split the Church of Scotland and was paid for by private subscription and a grant from the General Assembly's Church Extension Committee. The Kilfinan chapter of the Statistical Account of Scotland of 1841 describes the recently completed building as "neat, comfortable and commodious".

Traces of an earlier chapel dedicated to St Bride are understood to have survived a short distance to the east until 1863, though these were largely destroyed when the road was built. The square burial ground surrounding the Kilbride Church contains a variety of 19th century gravestones and markers. The building is no longer in use as a place of worship.

Change of Category from B to C and Change to Statutory Address, 2013. Previous statutory address: 'Kilbride Church of Scotland'.

References

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