Parish Church, Station Road, Cardross

Parish Church, Station Road, Cardross

This is a Gothic church designed by John Burnet Senior and built in 1871–72, set out in an L-plan with a prominent entrance tower. The exterior is constructed from squared and snecked rubble with harl pointing (later re-pointed in cement), finished with ashlar margins and dressings. The building features a battered base course, eaves cornice, sturdy buttresses with sawtooth coped offsets, hoodmoulds with labelstops, reticulated traceried windows, and ogee-arched windows.

The south-east (entrance) elevation presents a broad gable with sturdy diagonal buttresses. Three small two-light ogee-arched windows occupy the ground level, with a large pointed-arched window above beneath a hoodmould bearing angel-head labelstops. A disc finial crowns the apex. The three-stage entrance tower recesses into a re-entrant angle to the left. String courses divide the stages. At ground level sits a deeply moulded pointed-arch door with a hoodmould and mask labelstops (badly weathered); a boarded door with decorative cast iron hinges now closes this opening. Above are three narrow lancets. A trefoil-headed lancet appears on the left return. Three narrow stepped stair windows occupy the stage above. A clock is set at the second stage. At the belfry stage sit paired round-arched, trefoil-headed, louvered openings with hoodmoulds springing from a sculpted beast at the centre and terminating in mask labelstops. A stone pyramidal crocketted spire is carried on a stylised corbel course, with small trefoil-headed lucarnes and a Celtic cross finial.

The south-west elevation comprises a five-bay nave divided by buttresses on the left, with the tower positioned in the penultimate bay to the right. A gable breaks the eaves at the outer left bay, where a large plate-traceried rose window (added in 1878) sits beneath a hoodmould with angel-head labelstops. Two small ogee lancets sit below. A diminutive bust in a disc finial (possibly depicting the donor James Burns of Kilmahew) marks the gable. Two flanking bays feature pairs of two-light lancets. The narrow outer right bay contains a small two-light window.

The north-east elevation shows the nave with a rectangular-plan gabled vestry aligned north-west to south-east at the outer right. The vestry has a gabled battered porch with a pointed-arch door closed by a two-leaf panelled wooden door. Flanking narrow trefoil-headed lancet leaded windows sit on either side, with a small cusped wheel window above and a narrow light in the gablehead. Paired lancets appear on the right return. The nave is articulated with paired trefoil-headed lancets on its right return.

The north-west elevation presents a broad gable with a stepped five-light window. A gablehead stack with a serrated head crowns this elevation. A lean-to boiler house and a half-piend-roofed block project from the outer right.

The interior was renovated in 1899. It is arranged as a hall church with a later balcony at the south-west. Pine pews line the space. The altar table and pulpit are modern insertions. A tripartite altarpiece with embroidery panels by Hannah Frew Paterson was installed in 1981. An oak hammerbeam roof, supported on slender colonnettes with angel capitals, spans the interior. Later 19th-century marble memorials to James Burns and McDougall are present. Silk hangings by Sarah Sumsion adorn the space. Plate glass etched nave windows at the north-east, created by John Lawrie in memory of Elizabeth C Hendry of Geilston House, light the interior. Stained glass windows by Sadie McLellan were installed in 1970. Additional stained glass windows are by W & J Keir of Glasgow. A medallion window was inserted in 1878. The organ was installed in 1898. The church bells, by Wilson of Glasgow, are dated 1871.

The roof is covered in grey slate with lead flashings and small ridge ventilators. Ashlar coping runs along the skews with disc finials.

The boundary wall, gatepiers, and gates form part of the group. A broad vehicular gate and pedestrian gate provide access. The sturdy square-plan piers have battered base courses and are chamfered to octagonal form, each topped with a conical cap. A coped square pier to the right of the vehicular gate has a battered base and an inset patera panel; an identical pier stands to the right of the pedestrian gate. Decorative cast-iron gates close both openings. The boundary wall is constructed from rubble with harl pointing and finished with ashlar saddleback coping.