Churchyard And Gatepiers, Torthorwald Parish Church

The churchyard and gatepiers of Torthorwald Parish Church date back to 1782. The church is designed in a T-plan and is built on a slope. It features a rubble construction with a droved ashlar base course, whitewashed walls, and red ashlar margins, including a gabled vestry that was added in 1898 to the center of the tall four-bay west elevation. There is a door on each short wall below an oculus, and a forestair leads to the vestry. An unfortunate lean-to structure from 1967 is located to the east. The windows are small-paned, round-headed, and keystoned, with some blocked at the imposts. A stumpy wallhead stack is situated over the vestry. The roof is slate, piended except at the east, and features a ball-finialed birdcage belfry with supports that have been rebuilt in brick over the gable of the vestry.

The interior is simple, having been renovated and re-seated in 1898, with a pulpit located centrally on the west wall. The churchyard is enclosed by a rubble-built wall, which contains several interesting 17th to 19th century headstones and monuments. The entrance features two rusticated red ashlar square gatepiers, which are corniced and topped with pyramidal caps. The gates and gate-piers display bronze plaques that serve as memorials to Dr. John G Paton, a missionary to the New Hebrides, who lived from 1824 to 1907.