Kirkliston Parish Church, The Square, Kirkliston

Kirkliston Parish Church

Kirkliston Parish Church is a late 12th-century Romanesque church of considerable architectural importance, sited in an elevated position. The building originally consisted of an unaisled nave, a western tower, and a chancel, though the chancel no longer survives. It underwent significant reworking and additions during the 17th century, in 1822, and in 1883 under the architect R Rowand Anderson. The church now presents a rectangular plan with aisles to the south and north.

The masonry comprises hammer-dressed squared sandstone for the older work, with stugged coursed sandstone employed for later additions. The building features ashlar margins with chamfered reveals, a string course, and a corbel table, all supported on a base course.

The Tower

The western tower displays three stages with a battered base and two string courses. It was truncated in the 17th century and now carries a slate saddleback roof housing a dovecot, with clasping buttresses rising to the eaves line. An intermediate buttress on the west front stands between two arrowslit windows—the right one being broader—and sits below the first string course. A further arrowslit rises above this buttress at the second stage. Access to the roof is provided by a flight-hole with a projecting cill in the gablehead of the west elevation. The 17th-century additions include a stone bird-cage belfry on the east gable, topped with a piended roof, corner finials, and a weathercock. A broad stair projection at the southeast corner houses a newel staircase to the upper floors, terminating in a lean-to cap at the level of the upper string course and lit by arrowslit windows. A 19th-century burial plot of the Dudgeon family, surrounded by a low wall and railings, projects from the southwest corner of the south wall.

South Elevation (Nave)

The south elevation features a blocked ornate Romanesque doorway at the centre, standing proud of the wall. The doorway is recessed in four arch orders supported on free-standing jamb shafts with water-leaf capitals and rectangular abaci. The semi-circular archivolt displays roll and hollow moulding with deeply undercut chevron ornament. A hoodmould with stops carries chevron design on the right-hand side, though weathering obscures much of the remaining portion.

A tripartite window is positioned off-set to the left of the door at clerestorey stage. To the left are later additions: a bipartite rectangular window with chamfered mullion and cill, and a round-headed door with ashlar margin and sharply-cut chevron hoodmould. A string course runs above these features to the wall of the tower, part of the original 12th-century fabric. A small rectangular blocked opening sits at dado level immediately to the right of the main door. Above and to the right are paired round-headed windows with hoodmoulds. The nave is terminated by a corbelled coursed ashlar parapet at the eaves.

The nave is cut away at its east end by the Newliston burial aisle, which projects to the south. The aisle's south wall contains a central door with bolection moulding, above which sits a lintel stone inscribed "VIRTVTE.DECET.NON.SANGVINE NITI" (it is better to trust in virtue, not in lineage), dated 1629 with initials JD and MC. A small window at dado level sits to the left on the west return of the aisle, with two further windows at upper level to left and right. An 1885 memorial tablet is fixed against the wall of the east return of the aisle, with a blocked opening below. Heavy repointing is evident on the south face of the aisle.

East Elevation

The east elevation rises to a gable at centre, with the burial aisle to the left and a porch to the right; the east elevation of the north aisle is recessed further right. Two rectangular bipartite windows with semi-circular hoodmoulds and stops are positioned at ground level. A large oculus without tracery crowns the gablehead, topped by a Celtic cross finial.

The lower and slightly recessed entrance porch projects from the east front. Its principal door stands proud of the wall, displaying a semi-circular arch in three recessed orders with an impost course and hoodmould. The outer orders are plain, while the innermost carries roll and hollow moulding. The outer orders are supported on monolithic free-standing nook-shafts with pilastered jambs, crocketed capitals with water-leaf detail, and weathered water-holding bases. The ashlar coped skew line is clearly articulated. A tall round-headed window with hoodmould lights the north return of the porch. The north wing is recessed to the right.

North Elevation

The north elevation rises to a gable capping the north wing. A modern door sits at ground level to the left. An intermediate stepped buttress terminates below the level of the corbels on the east and west returns. A diagonal buttress stands to the outer right. An oculus crowns the gablehead at centre. A bipartite window with semi-circular hoodmould stands to the left of the east return, with a door at lower level to the right. A rectangular fanlight above an ashlar lintel and a long rectangular window occupy the area to the right.

A corbelled coursed ashlar parapet runs along the entire wing. Three regularly placed bargeboarded gabled timber dormers pierce the roof.

The three-bay west return of the wing groups its bays towards the north end, with off-set stepped buttresses dividing them. Each bay contains a bipartite window with semi-circular hoodmould. Bargeboarded dormers above the bays remain unglazed. A blank wall at the right-hand corner shows evidence of a blocked arched opening, against which a 19th-century monument has been constructed. The masonry at the south corner reveals 17th-century work, whilst the north elevation at the junction with the tower displays the fabric of the original nave, complete with a string course and moulding similar to that of the tower itself. The nave projects beyond the tower. A tripartite window sits directly under the string course at dado level. A corbelled parapet runs along the entire west return and the junction of nave with tower.

Glazing and Roofing

The tower lancets are glazed with diamond-pane leaded glass, the main windows with square leaded glass, and the south elevation with stained glass windows. The east dormers are fitted with plate glass. The roof is covered in grey slate with red ridge tiles, the dormers similarly roofed. Ashlar coping runs to the skews. A tall square chimney stack with semi-circular coping rises on the east wall of the burial aisle, with a squat coped gable stack on the north gable.

Interior

The interior, dating to the late 19th century, is galleried on three sides with wooden box pews and a timber roof. The communion table sits at the centre with a wooden pulpit by David Rhind (1860). A stair to the west gallery rises within the tower, and a semi-circular arch spans the junction between tower and church.

Watch-House, Gatepiers, and Wall

A watch-house, dating to circa 1820, is sited on the south side of the gate. It is a single-storey, three-bay symmetrical structure of squared and snecked sandstone rubble with droved margins and raised cills, set on sloping ground.

The north elevation features a boarded door at centre with flanking narrow blinded windows under a pedimented wallhead and a square apex stack. A gatepier is built into the left corner, with mirrored treatment on the west corner as pilaster quoins.

The east elevation contains a blind window at centre, with a lower wing to the left fitted with a boarded door at ground level. A south gatepier supports the corner and roof.

The gatepiers themselves are Doric piers of squared sandstone rubble with ashlar coping. A rubble wall with semi-circular coping runs from the north pier around the churchyard.

Graveyard

The upper churchyard contains numerous 18th-century monuments, notably one to the south of the nave featuring sculpted skeletal heads wearing spectacles. Numerous gravestones throughout bear memento mori inscriptions.