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

COCKPEN AND CARRINGTON PARISH CHURCH, INCLUDING GATES, GATEPIERS, BOUNDARY WALL AND LETTER BOXLB780

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category
A
Date Added
22/01/1971
Supplementary Information Updated
11/06/2019
Local Authority
Midlothian
Planning Authority
Midlothian
Parish
Cockpen
NGR
NT 31933 64195
Coordinates
331933, 664195

Description

Designed 1816 by Richard Crichton. 1817-1820 design executed by R and R Dickson (supervised by Archibald Elliot). Refitted Peddie and Kinnear in 1886. Cruciform-plan, Tudor-Gothic church with half-engaged square-plan tower. Tooled coursed yellow sandstone with droved dressings polished to margins. Base course; pointed segmental-arched, chamfered openings with hoodmoulds and carved label-stops; trefoil-headed traceried windows; moulded eaves course; gableted angle buttresses.

Southwest (entrance) elevation: four-stage entrance tower advanced to centre with dividing band courses, angle buttresses rise to form slim octagonal turrets. First stage with pointed segmental-arched, roll-moulded doorway to centre with two-leaf decorative panelled timber door with iron studs, tooled panel above reading "MDCCCXX". Second stage with two-light window to centre. Third stage with two-light window to centre of each side. Fourth stage with louvred tripartite openings to each side. Pierced fretted parapet on moulded eaves cornice.

Doorways flanking the entrance tower with two-leaf panelled timber door.

Southeast elevation: asymmetrical and four bays wide. Gabled transept advanced to penultimate bay to right, four-light window to centre, right return blank, curved stair tower to re-entrant angle to left; window to penultimate bay to left and bay to outer left; bay to outer right blank.

Northeast elevation: near-symmetrical and three bays wide. Gabled chancel advanced to centre bay with four-light window to centre; lean-to with boarded timber opening off-centre to left, boarded timber door with two-pane fanlight to right return; brick flue flanking angle buttress to left; stone crucifix to apex. Recessed bays to left and right blank.

Northwest elevation: mirror of southeast elevation

Diamond-pane windows with stained glass borders. Grey slate roof with lead ridge. Coped stone skews. Cast iron rainwater goods.

Interior: predominantly refitted by Peddie and Kinnear in 1886. Porch with tiled floor and ribbed ceiling; T-plan stair to gallery at centre with turned timber balusters to first flight, flanked to left and right by gothic panelled timber doors. Simple timber pews with cast iron and brass umbrella stands; gallery supported by cast iron columns to northwest, southwest and southeast with original gothic timber fronts; original timber pulpit incorporated into 1886 organ to centre of chancel; ribbed plaster vaulted ceiling rising from four corner shafts, with foliate plasterwork at intersections and plaster masks at terminations.

Gates, Gatepiers, Boundary Walls and Letter Box: decorative cast iron two-leaf gate flanked by two pedestrian gates; four stugged pink sandstone gatepiers with stop-chamfered angles and corniced caps. Rubble boundary wall with bull-faced and semicircular coping. Victorian wall letter box Type "C" to left of southeast wall.

Statement of Special Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such.

Cockpen Parish Church was commissioned by the Earl of Dalhousie to replace the 12th century church (see scheduled monument, SM1186) to the southeast which was too small. The 1680 bell from the old church was taken to the new one.

The design for the church tower was altered in the early stages so that it could be seen from both Dalhousie Castle and Arniston House. The builder and mason was John Dickson.

A contract held by the National Records of Scotland between the heritors and John Dickson, the builder, highlights Archibald Elliot as the architect (HR 333/6) However, further research carried out by a church member suggests that Richard Crichton was the architect. He died in 1817 shortly after the foundation stone of the church was laid. Richard and Robert Dickson were not only his pupils but also his nephews (his sister's sons) and they completed the project, supervised by Elliott. R and R Dickson, designed a nearly identical church at Kilconquhar in Fife only two years later.

Listed building record updated in 2019 with information about architects.

References

Bibliography

Canmore: http://canmore.org.uk/ CANMORE ID 53636

Maps

Ordnance Survey (surveyed 1853, published 1854) Haddingtonshire, Sheet XIII (includes: Cockpen; Cranston; Dalkeith; Inveresk; Lasswade; Newbattle; Newton). 6 inches to one mile. 1st Edition. Southampton: Ordnance Survey.

Ordnance Survey (revised 1892, published 1894) Edinburghshire VIII.14 (Cockpen; Lasswade; Newbattle). 25 inches to one mile. 2nd Edition. Southampton: Ordnance Survey.

Archives

National Records of Scotland, Contract for the Building of Cockpen Parish Church (1818), HR333/6.

National Records of Scotland, Records of Cockpen Kirk Session, CH2/452.

National Records of Scotland, Cockpen: Elevation drawing referred to in a contract for the building of Cockpen Church, 1817, GD45/13/108.

Printed Sources

The New Statistical Account of Scotland, Vol 1, (1845), p.608-610.

Groome, F H (1885) Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, p.275.

Fraser, A. (1955) Afoot in Midlothian, p.18.

Fraser, A. (1955) Midlothian: A Brief Account of the History of the District, p.38-39.

McWilliam, C. (1978) The Buildings of Scotland: Lothian Except Edinburgh, p.141.

Thomas, J. (1995) Midlothian: An Illustrated Architectural Guide, p.88.

Online Sources

Dictionary of Scottish Architects, Cockpen Parish Church at http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/building_full.php?id=213834 (accessed 11/06/2019).

Other Information

Further information courtesy of member of church (2019).

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 07:58