Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

NEWTON PARISH CHURCH, NEWTON CHURCH ROAD, NEWTON VILLAGELB14201

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Date Added
22/01/1971
Local Authority
Midlothian
Planning Authority
Midlothian
Parish
Newton
NGR
NT 31507 69343
Coordinates
331507, 669343

Description

1742, altered 1890; circa 1748 exterior stairway. T-plan with adjoining Session House. Droved coursed rubble, later smooth ashlar porches. Long and short rusticated quoins and moulded cornice. Skew gabled.

W (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: gabled entrance porch: planked arch headed door in receding archway with hood-mould, modern notice boards flanking, triangular skews with stone cross at apex; adjoining lean-to porch, arch headed narrow window with architraved surround to each flank, eaves course, triangular skews with pedimented skewputts; adjoining main church wall: central arch headed window with prominent margins and keystone, plain skews with squared putts; gablehead bellcote (dated 1742 and 1973) with corbelled base, rectangular openings showing original bell, moulded cornice and ogival top with pommel surmounting; square window with projecting margins to left return, eaves course.

N ELEVATION: central entrance porch with roof, entrance door on right return; square window with projecting margins to each flank, wheel window with raised margins to 1st floor, triangular louvred vent to gablehead, plain skews with squared putts and gablehead finial; L-shaped external stone stair with shaped copes and end capitals leading to 2-storey square extension with entrance door and small glazed fanlight above, lean-to single storey extension with entrance door in re-entrant angle, tall chimney stack above to right return; square window to ground floor, arched window to 1st floor on left return, small chimney on apex.

E ELEVATION: skew gabled porch off centre right: round arched window, smaller square porch with entrance door to left return; main wall of church: round arched window with projecting keystones and margins to centre, plain skews with squared putts and gablehead finial; small square window to ground floor on right return.

S ELEVATION: central Session House: pair of Gothic lancet windows, square sundial (dated 1742) with projecting rounded pediment above, chimney stack with projecting margins and neck cope and single replacement can to gablehead, plain skews with scrolled putts; tomb stones inset to returns. Paired round arched windows flanking Session House.

12-pane timber sash and case windows to most; wheel window to N gable; arched sash and case to E porch; arched fixed square quarry windows to S and W elevations; 2-pane timber Gothic lancets to Session House gable end. Piended slate roof with zinc ridging, flashing and valleys. Replacement grey plastic rainwater goods to most.

INTERIOR: plastered segmental groin vaulting, pilastered and heavily corniced woodwork; Colliers' panels (dated 1732 and 1737) from old church: marbled framing, small pilasters with arabesques on a black background, names in gold leaf and trade implement designs; rearranged seating (1819); pair of circa 1830 Grecian Ormulu pendants; remodelled 1890, Session House now apse with oak pulpit, font and chair from Lady Gardiner; 1897 reading lectern presented by the Women's Guild and Kirk Session; wall text behind the lectern reads "COME UNTO ME ALL YE THAT LABOUR AND ARE HEAVILY LADEN"(Matthew 11.20).

Statement of Special Interest

B-Group with Watch House, Kirkyard Boundary walls and gatepiers. The church was built as a replacement for the older Kirk to the S of the parish. The colliers of the area had to submit a new petition to the Kirk to allow them to worship here. They paid money towards the gallery built in the W arm, which was accessed by steps from the exterior. The loft door from the original Kirk was fitted. This has a small hole at eye level with a cover that swings from side to side. A long wooden pole could be inserted and used to prod inattentive listeners to the sermon or those who had fallen asleep. The Kirkyard has many aged gravestones and tombs, and a tree believed to have been planted as a sapling when the church was built. A new manse and church hall was built adjacent in 1968, to replace the older building now called Chalfont and listed separately. 1973 saw the original bell restored, and this date has been carved into the bellcote wall near the church's original date.

Scheduled Monument.

References

Bibliography

John Elphinstone, A NEW AND CORRECT MAP OF THE LOTHIANS FROM MR ADAIR'S OBSERVATIONS (1744); Laurie, A PLAN OF EDINBURGH AND PLACES ADJACENT (1766) showing Newton Kirk; George Hay, THE ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTTISH POST-REFORMATION CHURCHES, 1560-1843 (1957) p92, 169, 217, 230-230; C McWilliam, LOTHIAN (1978) p358; George Montgomery, A HISTORY OF NEWTON PARISH (1984) pp29, 31, 33 & 66; The Third Statistical Account, THE COUNTY OF MIDLOTHIAN (1985) pp121-122; J Thomas, MIDLOTHIAN (1995) pp.126-127.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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Printed: 28/03/2024 18:39