New Abbey Parish Church, Sweetheart Abbey, New Abbey is a Grade B listed building in the Dumfries and Galloway local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 4 November 1971. Church. 1 related planning application.
New Abbey Parish Church, Sweetheart Abbey, New Abbey
- WRENN ID
- silver-minaret-fen
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- Dumfries and Galloway
- Constituency
- Dumfries and Galloway MP: John Cooper (Con)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 4 November 1971
- Type
- Church
- OS grid reference
- NX 965 659
- Coordinates
- 54.97757, -3.61843
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
New Abbey Parish Church, located at Sweetheart Abbey in New Abbey, was designed by architect James Barbour of Dumfries and built between 1876 and 1877. This Gothic church features a T-plan layout and has a gabled belfry that is prominently raised above the porch in the southeast re-entrant angle.
The exterior is constructed from squared and snecked white granite blocks, accented with red sandstone ashlar dressings and bull-faced quoins. It includes some single angle buttresses. The windows are pointed and feature geometric tracery, with hood moulds, while the main porch on the east side of the nave is gabled and has a pointed doorway set in splayed reveals, adorned with a hood mould that includes dog-tooth ornamentation. The belfry has a unique two-dimensional appearance, showcasing a traceried two-light opening on a tall, buttressed shaft.
A continuous string course links the cills and serves as a hood mould over the south-facing doors. The church has blocked eaves, saw-toothed skews, and cross finials atop both main gables, with a slate roof. A modern hall added to the west is not included in the listing.
Inside, the church features elaborate roof timbers and a low octagonal pulpit. A leaded window was inserted in the south wall after 1914.
Local climate
New Abbey Parish Church, Sweetheart Abbey, New Abbey sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,140 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 89% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 86% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 42 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 20 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
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- 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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