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

PARISH CHURCH AND GRAVEYARD, INCLUDING GATEPIERS AND BOUNDARY WALLSLB15414

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Date Added
16/03/1971
Local Authority
Scottish Borders
Planning Authority
Scottish Borders
Parish
Yetholm
NGR
NT 82568 28085
Coordinates
382568, 628085

Description

Robert Brown, 1835-7; interior recast circa 1935. Rectangular-plan Gothick church with tower to S. Coursed whinstone with cream sandstone dressings. Base course; eaves cornice; hoodmoulded lancet windows; chamfered reveals; polygonal buttress towers with obelisk finials clasping angles; pointed-arched and hoodmould doorways.

TOWER: square-section, 3-stage tower. Doorway at ground to SE; modern 2-leaf door and tympanum; narrow round-arched louvre above; pointed-arched traceried louvre with clock at 3rd stage: gabled towerhead with corbelled finial to each face. Pointed-arched traceried window at 2nd stage to SW; 3rd stage detailed as above. Narrow round-arched blinded opening at 2nd stage to NW; pointed-arched louvre at 3rd stage. Pointed-arched louvre to 3rd stage to NE.

SE ELEVATION: 3-bay with windows in each bay; doorway to outer left; modern 2-leaf door and tympanum.

NW ELEVATION: 3-bay with windows in each bay.

NE ELEVATION: 2-bay gabled. 2 traceried pointed-arched windows.

SW ELEVATION: 3-bay gabled with tower in centre bay (see above). Lancet windows in bays to outer left and right; flat-roofed addition in re-entrant angle with tower to outer left.

Clear glass leaded windows. Grey slate roof; coped gables.

INTERIOR: stained glass in 2 chancel windows and window flanking organ by Ballantine and Son of Edinburgh; chamber organ; segmental arch to chancel; gallery supported by gilded fluted columns with foliate capitals; decorative plaster rose; original benches and dado panelling; carved timber lectern with traceried panels; clocks (1993); timber communion table and elders' chairs; bell inscribed "Johannes Burgerhuys me fecit 1643"; datestones of 1610 and 1763 set into internal wall of tower; stone spiral stair to gallery with simple iron balustrade. GATEPIERS AND BOUNDARY WALLS: finialled polygonal whinstone gatepiers; iron spearheaded gates; rubble boundary walls.

GRAVEYARD: gravestones dated from 17th century; Boyd family of Cherrytrees mausoleum; Rev John Baird (d1861) enclosure.

Statement of Special Interest

The mediaeval church of Yetholm, said to be the last remaining reed- thatched parish church in Scotland, was demolished in 1835 and the present structure built on the site. The only remnants of the mediaeval church appear to be the datestones (referring to alterations), the bell (from the Burgerhuys foundry at Middleburg, Holland), and some fragments of stonework preserved in the Manse garden. The Heritors Records first mention the subject of a replacement for the small and dilapidated church on 12/2/1835, and John and Thomas Smith of Darnick were instructed to draw up plans. By April of 1835, one of the Heritors, the Marquis of Tweeddale, had objected to the plans, and further designs were requested from Walter Elliot of Kelso and Robert Brown of Edinburgh (Lord Tweeddale's own architect at Yester). In May 1835 Robert Brown was selected as architect, and after much wrangling Walter Elliot was appointed as contractor. The estimated cost was $1425. On 28/1/1837 the church was declared "fit for Divine Worship". Photographs of the unbuilt designs exist in the NMRS, and a seating plan for the extant church survives with the Heritors' Records. The interior was remodelled circa 1935, when the side galleries and high pulpit were removed and dark varnish cleaned from the pews.

References

Bibliography

SRO HERITORS' RECORDS HR.189.2; NSA (revised 1835), pp162-164; NMRS photographic collection nos RXD/269/1-22; F H Groome (ed) ORDNANCE GAZETTEER OF SCOTLAND VOL VI (revised 1893), p503; H Scott (ed) FASTI ECCLESIAE SCOTICANAE (1917), pp94-97; THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES REGISTER AND DIRECTORY (1866), p159; RCAHMS ROXBURGHSHIRE INVENTORY (1956), pp450-451; Anon THE KIRK OF YETHOLM (n.d), pp1-13.

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 22:54