Kells Parish Church is a Grade B listed building in the Dumfries and Galloway local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 4 November 1971.

Kells Parish Church

WRENN ID
upper-mortar-pine
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 632 783
Coordinates
55.08074, -4.14434
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Kells Parish Church is a T-plan church built in 1822. The building has a three-stage square tower at the centre of its south elevation. It is constructed from pinned granite rubble, with bull-faced and broached granite quoins and chamfered red sandstone margins. All openings are pointed-arch with hoodmoulds, and the windows have timber Y-tracery. Gable walls each feature pointed-arch, hood-moulded doors. A wide north aisle includes windows flanking the door and one above it. A small addition from the 1890s was built to the northwest angle to house an organ, and it has a circular window to its gable.

The south elevation has five bays, with a three-stage, buttressed tower in the centre. A doorway is at ground level, single windows on the second stage, and louvered openings on the third. The building is topped with an embattled parapet and pinnacles at the angles. Other external details include saw-toothed skews, gablehead cross finials, and slate roofs.

The interior was largely reconstructed in 1911 while maintaining the original layout. Galleries cantilever from stone corbels on three sides. A raised pulpit is located in the centre of the south wall, with a door behind it providing access to the tower. The church features an elaborate hammerbeam roof.

The building is part of a group with Kells Parish Churchyard and is recognised for its group value.

Local climate

Kells Parish Church sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,430 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 98% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 90% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 49 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 91% of listed buildings. Of these, 27 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.2°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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