Applegarthtown Parish Church And Churchyard

Applegarthtown Parish Church, built around 1760, is a picturesque T-plan Gothic church that was remodeled and raised by three-quarters of a masonry course around 1900, in the style of James Barbour of Dumfries. At the east end of the south wall, there is a square-plan Jardine Burial enclosure dating from around 1689, which features good classical detailing. The church is constructed of rubble with ashlar dressings and is mostly whitewashed. Most openings have hood-moulds with exposed long and short worked dressings. There are shallow gabled porches centrally placed on each gable, traceried circular windows on the east and west gables, and other pointed windows. A forestair leads to the laird's loft in the east re-entrant angle of the jamb. The church has gabletted skewputts, saw-toothed skews, and a belfry over the west gable, with a roof covered in graded slates.

The interior, which is essentially from around 1900, includes the laird's loft in the north jamb, and a pulpit centrally located on the long south wall between two World War I memorial windows. There is a continuous string course that steps as a hood-mould over the openings, and the roof is open timbered.

The Jardine Burial enclosure features a continuous eaves course, cornice, and blocking course, with a doorway centrally located on the south wall. It has a lugged architrave and a broken pediment with a crest in the tympanum. There is a similarly treated pediment on a pilastered monument against the west wall, which has large supporting scrolled brackets. A table tomb is located nearby.

The churchyard is a roughly quadrangular area, which was extended to the north in the late 19th century, enclosed by ashlar-coped rubble-built walls. There are rusticated square gatepiers at the south gate and both gates on the east wall. The gate on the east wall nearest the church dates from the late 17th to mid-18th century and features good cornices with ogee caps, possibly once topped with ball finials. The churchyard contains mostly 18th and 19th century stone monuments, many adorned with classical ornament and some featuring well-sculpted figures. Notably, the Egypto-Greek Jardine monument at the southwest end of the churchyard is possibly by Walter Newall.