South Church, Cameron Street, Stonehaven

South Church, located on Cameron Street in Stonehaven, was built in 1868-9, with subsequent alterations and additions in 1896 and 1897. A church hall was added in 1897. This is a tall, single-stage, single-bay, Greek cross-plan Gothic church, featuring a two-stage, pyramidal-roofed stair tower set into the re-entrant angle. The church has a curvilinear-traceried window and a fine interior.

The exterior is constructed of roughly squared and snecked coursed rubble stone with ashlar margins, with some stugged detailing. The tower is built of larger blocks of snecked squared rubble with ashlar dressings. The church features a base and band course, a single stage, and broad, clasping buttresses that project slightly. Details include voussoirs, stop-chamfered reveals, raked cills, and a pair of vertically-boarded timber doors.

The north elevation, facing the street, has a gable topped with a cross finial and a large four-light traceried window. Flanking the window are small, blocked rectangular openings at the springing point of the arch. Steps lead to a deep-set timber door within a small gabled porch projecting to the left, while the tower is situated to the right, with a door, flanking buttresses and a two-light traceried window at its first stage. The tower’s upper stage has a modillioned cornice and a pyramidal roof.

The west elevation has an advanced gable with a two-light traceried window positioned behind external secondary glazing. The stair tower is in the re-entrant angle to the left, with a small window at its first stage and a two-light traceried window above. A low link section projecting to the outer right contains a door.

The windows have diamond-pattern leaded glazing with painted margins; a stained glass memorial window is located to the south. The roof is covered in grey slates, with stepped ashlar skew details incorporating mitre skewputts. There are diminutive triangular louvered roof ventilators and what appears to be the base of a polygonal spire at the crossing.

The interior retains a good decorative scheme incorporating fixed timber pews, vertically-boarded timber dadoes, and a north gallery supported by four iron columns with an arcaded front, featuring a centre clock and raked seating. A compartmented and stencilled boarded timber ceiling tops the space. A narthex screen of panelled timber and multi-pane leaded top lights is present, as is a winding stair with barley-twist balusters, square-section finialled newel posts, and a small blocked pointed-arch opening. A chancel arch to the south reveals a pipe organ housing and a stained glass window gifted by William Mowat, dating back to 1896. There is also an arcaded timber pulpit from the earlier 1843 church. In addition, several memorial monuments are present, including granite and timber war memorials commemorating those connected with the congregation who died in the First and Second World Wars. A vestry features a boarded dado and ceiling, and includes a gas lamp.

The single-storey, three-bay, rectangular-plan church hall is linked to the southwest side of the church. It has a traceried circular window on the west side and modern windows elsewhere.