Description
The monument consists of the ruins of a simple parish church
dedicated to St Nicholas. The structure probably dates from the 12th
or 13th century, but has been greatly modified in the 18th century.
The church stands in a graveyard on a raised knoll 250m NNE of
Prestwick railway station. It is gable ended and rectangular on plan measuring 13.5m E-W by 6.05m N-S internally. The masonry is coursed sandstone and lime mortar. The walls are 1m thick and rise 6m to the wallhead. The gables are intact, the W gable rising from a chamfered ground course, with a high level window and three small exterior buttresses. The E gable has an offset at the wallhead where there is
a chamfered eaves course. There are two massive buttresses on each
side of the gable and a smaller one in the centre. The plinth of a
plain belfry can be seen on this gable. All the openings are now
blocked apart from the pointed-arched entrance in the SW wall. There
is another similar entrance on the opposite wall. There are two
opposed, round-headed windows towards the E end and a large
rectangular one in the E end. Two flat-headed windows have been inserted in the S wall during the 18th century. Two decorated
capitals in the blocking appear to be of 13th century date.
The area to be scheduled is rectangular and includes the standing
walls, the area within and an area extending 2m beyond the exterior
face of the walls, measuring a maximum of 18.5m E-W by 11.05m N-S, as marked in red on the accompanying map.