Irongray Church And Churchyard is a Grade B listed building in the Dumfries and Galloway local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 4 November 1971.
Irongray Church And Churchyard
- WRENN ID
- tall-cobble-vetch
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- Dumfries and Galloway
- Constituency
- Dumfries and Galloway MP: John Cooper (Con)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 4 November 1971
- OS grid reference
- NX 915 795
- Coordinates
- 55.09865, -3.7017
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
The church at Irongray was originally built in 1803 by John MacCracken of Dumfries, and extensively rebuilt in 1872-3 by James Barbour of Dumfries, incorporating the earlier structure. It is a Romanesque style church, with a three-stage, square entrance tower situated on the southwest side. The church is constructed of white-washed rubble with red ashlar dressings. Features include round-headed openings, with arches predominantly decorated with chevron ornament, columned jambs or mullions topped with cushion or scalloped capitals.
The tower has a south-facing doorway, with a lean-to vestry attached in the northeast corner. The top stage of the tower is set back and features a louvred belfry opening in a round arched panel on each face. The nave has bipartite windows, and there is a three-light wall head gable window in the westmost bay of both long elevations. An east gable porch has a gabled, south-facing doorway. The roof is covered with graded slates and features saw-toothed skews and an apex ventilator with a parabolical roof.
The interior contains leaded glass windows dating from 1873 to 1960; the west window was designed by Stephen Adam around 1904. The roof is open timbered, resting on stone corbels. A round arched blind panel is located at the west end, while the pulpit and dado are modern additions.
The irregularly shaped churchyard is enclosed by rubble-built walls with ashlar coping. There are plain chamfered square gatepiers topped with pyramidal caps, and the wrought-iron gates were presented around 1961. A selection of 17th to 19th century stone monuments are set within the churchyard, including one dedicated to Helen Walker, the inspiration for Sir Walter Scott’s “Jeanie Deans”. The building remains in ecclesiastical use.
Records include an 1838 sketch by Wm Aitken held at Dumfries Museum. Plans from 1872 are in the possession of Sutherland Dickie & Copeland, Dumfries.
Local climate
Irongray Church And Churchyard sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,240 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 93% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 87% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 48 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 89% of listed buildings. Of these, 25 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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