Priestfield Parish Church, 99 Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh

Priestfield Parish Church, 99 Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh

A Grade A listed building designed by Sutherland and Walker, built between 1877 and 1879 (dated 1879). The church is a Lombardic Romanesque structure in Latin cross-plan, with a church hall and vestry positioned to the rear.

The principal elevations facing Dalkeith Road and Marchhall Place are constructed of cream sandstone polished ashlar. The subsidiary elevations use stugged and snecked sandstone rubble. The architectural detailing combines mixed late Romanesque features including simple plate tracery to rose windows, finely carved shallow relief mouldings, and waterleaf capitals. Decorative cast-iron ventilator covers are a notable feature throughout.

The west elevation facing Dalkeith Road presents a symmetrical composition centred on a three-bay pedimented front that projects forward of a pair of flanking towers. At gallery level there are three pairs of arched windows. Arcaded pilasters with stiff-leaf capitals support the composition, with distinctive plate-traceried rose windows contained within each arch. The pedimented gable above contains a small plate-traceried roundel insert set between triangular panels, and a masonry Celtic cross finial crowns the apex. The pair of square-plan campanile towers are arcaded at all stages, with two bays at the second tier and three bays above. The first and second tiers are glazed, whilst the two belfry stages above are open. Shallow pyramidal slate roofs with dentilled eaves and cast-iron cross finials complete the towers. Deep-plan gabled porches project to either side of the main church body, with intricate dogtooth and shallow relief foliate carving to the portals. The tympana contain kufic-style star motifs within sculptured roundels, and the waterleaf capitals display varying designs.

The north elevation facing Marchhall Place is asymmetrical. A date stone is set in an aedicule on the return bay of the nave. A Lombardic Romanesque corbel-course runs along the return elevation of the porch. Masonry is carried across the ground-floor bipartite window of the tower, expressing the stair to the upper gallery within. A three-bay arcaded pedimented transept gable front marks the left arm of the Latin cross. Large plate-traceried rose windows sit within round-arch heads, with moulded apron panels and paired arched windows beneath. A further rose window appears on the east return elevation of the transept. A single-storey two-bay link connects to the three-bay gable front of the rear hall, which has simpler arcaded treatment and an entrance to the right with a distinctive diamond fishscale-effect tympanum.

Pairs of square-plan polished ashlar gatepiers, stop-chamfered at the arrises, feature corniced caps with simple block details to Marchhall Place and Marchhall Crescent. A single pier stands to Dalkeith Road. Simple cast-iron railings complete the boundary treatment.

The interior is galleried with blind Lombardic arcading to the front of timber galleries. A clock is positioned at the centre to the rear (west). The seating is arranged radially. Many original fittings from circa 1879 and circa 1920 in pitch pine and oak survive. The walls are divided into arcaded bays by pilasters with waterleaf capitals painted gold. A shallow pointed segmental timber roof covers the interior. A 1970s screen addition to the rear below the west gallery is considered out of sympathy with the church's style.

The pulpit dates from circa 1879 and occupies the original central position at the east end. It is constructed of pitch pine with very fine Lombardic carving. An eagle lectern dates from circa 1820. The organ gallery was added circa 1900 by Binns of Sheffield. The font was installed in 1881 and designed by John Rhind. A communion table, circa 1920 and constructed of oak, was removed from Prestonfield Church and positioned centrally.

The stained glass throughout dates from 1921 and was presented as a First World War memorial. The three double-light windows to the west by Alexander Strachan represent the life and works of Christ, with a centre pair of double lights at ground level forming the memorial windows. The rose windows throughout are also by Strachan. The ground-floor windows to the north and south transepts and west elevation were created by Mr J (possibly Douglas) Hamilton of Dundee, featuring symbolic subjects with abundant clear glass, and by Miss Mary Wood, depicting natural subjects.

The stairs flanking the west wall lead to the galleries. They feature cream ashlar dressings with a newel post displaying a stiff-leaf capital and moulded arrises, and an oak balustrade. Original gallery doors are three-panelled with openwork quatrefoils at the centre panels.

The hall interior contains an open timbered ceiling and original heavy timber chimneypiece. A similar chimneypiece is also present in the vestry at ground-floor level.