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

ESKBANK ROAD, ST JOHN'S AND KING'S PARK CHURCH (CHURCH OF SCOTLAND), WITH BOUNDARY WALLSLB24356

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category
B
Date Added
18/10/1976
Local Authority
Midlothian
Planning Authority
Midlothian
Burgh
Dalkeith
NGR
NT 32984 67065
Coordinates
332984, 667065

Description

R Thornton Shiells, dated 1870. Early English gothic church. Rectangular plan; steeple to NW corner, octangonal stair tower to NE corner and former church hall to S. Stugged rubble; N and W elevations squared and coursed, E and S elevations squared and snecked . Ashlar dressings. Coped base course to N and W elevations. Eaves course to W and E elevations. Coped set-off buttresses. Chamfered margins. Droved margin drafts and angle margins. Lancet windows. Corinthian capitals to nook-shafts. Hoodmoulds to principal openings. Grey slates with contrasting bands to deeply pitched roof; red ridge tiles to nave.

Coped skews; some gabletted skewputts. Original rainwater goods, rainwater heads dated "18 AD 70". Some moulded eaves gutter.

Decorative iron door furniture to boarded doors.

N (ESKBANK ROAD, ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: short flight of steps to hoodmould pointed-arched doorway in gabled panel at centre; deeply moulded surround with nook-shafts; 2-leaf doors. Lancets flanking; buttress to left. Foliated string course above. Wheel window in hoodmoulded pointed-arched panel, with paired nook-shafts, above, half-vesica in gablehead. Steepleadvanced to right.

STAIR TOWER: 2-stage octagonal stair tower intercepting entrance elevation to left. coped course between stages, eaves course. Steps down to flat-arched doorway at basement to SE. Window to ground and 1st stages, taller at 1st, to N, E and SE. Segmental-arched openings at ground to N and E. Swept polygonal roof with finely splayed iron finial.

STEEPLE: 4 set-off stages. Angle-buttressed to 2nd stage.

Pointed-arched moulded doorpiece to N, with string course stepped over as hoodmould and flanking nook-shafts; pointed-arched and recessed trefoil detail, and "AD 1870" inscribed above chamfered lintel of shouldered-arched doorway with 2-leaf doors. 2-light window to W at ground. 3-light window to N and W at 1st stage. Lancet to N, W and S at 2nd stage. Tall, paired moulded louvred lancets, with clustered nook-shafts, to each face of 3rd stage belfry. Corbelled course above panels and richly carved eaves course. Broached spire; slits with Gothic aedicules, double string course and lucarnes on alternate faces above. Foliate detail to angle of broaching.

W (KING'S PARK) ELEVATION: steeple to left. 5-bay. Bay to left steeply gabled; 3-light window at ground, coped course above, large trefoil-traceried half-vesica in gablehead. Gableted buttress to right. 2-light windows in remaining bays, dividing butresses. Gabled elevation of former church hall with flanking buttresses, advanced to right; 4-light window, trefoiled oculus in gablehead.

E ELEVATION: stair tower to right. 5-bay. Bay to right steeply gabled : 3-light window at ground, large trefoil-traceried half-vesica in gablehead. 2-light windows in remaining bays, dividing buttresses. Gabled elevation of former church hall, with flanking buttresses, advanced to left; 2 windows, trefoiled oculus in gablehead; four-centred-arched door on return.

S ELEVATION: cusped half-vesica in gablehead. 4-light window above adjoining single storey former church hall at ground.

FORMER CHURCH HALL: 4-bay (1-1-2). Four-centred-arched fanlit doorway in bay to right of centre. Shouldered-arched windows; 3-light to left bays, 2-light to outer right bay. Shouldered and coped stacks wallhead to left, ridge to right.

INTERIOR: oblong hall; pulpit and organ to S, panelled gallery on cast-iron columns to N. Painted plaster walls and boarded dadoes. Kingpost timber roof with pointed vault; pierced quatrefoil detailing.

5-bay organ to S wall with built-in pulpit below; blind pointed-arched arcade to pulpit; four-centred-arched doors flanking. Traceried timber communion table, dated "April 1932", timber lectern and font en suite; arcaded timber rail. Stained wood pews.

Four-centred-arched doors to vestibule. Glazed partitions in vestibule; delicate linenfold panelling. Four-centred-arched doors to tower; spiral staircases with cast-iron balustrades and wooden rails.

STAINED GLASS: paired lancets in penultimate bays to S by William Wilson, 1939. Geometric stained glass to 4-light window to S. Delicate pastel coloured glass detailing to remaining windows, including wheel window, lancets flanking N entrance and 4-light in former church hall.

BOUNDARY WALLS: semicircular coped rubble retaining walls; low ashlar coped rubble wall to E.

Statement of Special Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. Originally United Presbyterian, the church was constructed at a cost of ?3300, and could accommodate 700. The foundation stone was laid on 8 November 1869, and the church was opened by Dr McEwan of Glasgow on 8 November 1870. It became United Free Church of Scotland in 1900, and united with St John's Free Church in 1912, becoming Church of Scotland in 1929.

The church hall and Church Officer's house to the S were constructed in the early 1950s. The spire is 140ft in height.

References

Bibliography

MEMORIAL OF THE CENTENARY SERVICES HELD BY THE WEST UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION, DALKEITH (1869). F H Groome (ed) ORDNANCE GAZETTEER OF SCOTLAND (1882) Vol II, p337. W Mackelvie ANNALS AND STATISTICS OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (1873) pp 213-215. R Small HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONS OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Vol I (1904) pp 560-563.

J A Lamb THE FASTI OF THE UNITED FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND 1900-29 (1956) pp54-55. C McWilliam LOTHIAN (1980) pp156-157.

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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