Parish Church, Dunlop

Parish Church, Dunlop

This is a T-plan, two-storey gabled church with a three-stage crenellated tower, built in 1835 but incorporating fabric from 1641 and a small addition of 1884. It is constructed of squared, snecked sandstone with sandstone ashlar dressings, featuring gothic detailing throughout.

The tower stands on the east elevation and has three stages with base course, eaves course, and string courses above and below the belfry stage. A two-leaf timber panelled door on the north elevation of the tower has a pointed-arch roll-moulded architrave recessed in moulded, splayed jambs with hoodmould; a lancet window sits above at the second stage, with a similar window on the south elevation. The principal east elevation of the tower displays a tall, bipartite traceried window with central transom; above this is a clock with gilded hands and Roman numerals set in a diamond-shaped panel with chamfered margins. The belfry stage has paired, louvred lancet windows with M-hoodmoulds on all elevations. The east gable is bisected by the tower, with windows at ground and first-floor level in each bay.

The distinctive Dunlop Aisle, which dates from 1641, is a three-bay gabled structure advanced to the centre of the north elevation. It features an octagonal gablehead stack. A central studded timber-panelled door has a raised, roll-moulded architrave. Above this is a small recessed panel or blind window with a corbelled cill and flanking mini-columns supporting a corniced cill. The window above has a semicircular pediment decorated with strapwork and a central shield inscribed with the monogram IDEC and the date 1641. Herm pilasters and strapwork panels flank this window. Two further windows flank the door, each topped with a finialed pediment containing strapwork decoration and a central shield inscribed ID (left) and EC (right). Strapwork pediments also decorate the ground-floor windows of the left and right returns. A lean-to porch adjoins the right return, built over the Dunlop vault in the basement; stone steps lead down to a timber-boarded door in a roll-moulded archway dated 1884. Windows light both floors of the north elevation.

The west elevation has a gable with a first-floor window and gablehead stack. A single-storey gabled vestry, enlarged in 1924, is advanced to the centre; it has a tripartite mullioned window in the gable and a two-leaf timber panelled door in a raised chamfered architrave to its left return. The south elevation has four bays with tall clerestory windows to the centre and smaller windows to the outer bays.

Raised, chamfered margins surround most windows. Square-headed, hoodmoulded windows are used at ground level, while bipartite, traceried, pointed-arch windows appear at clerestory level. Shouldering, clasping buttresses support the tower and east gable.

Windows predominantly feature stained glass leaded lights. The vestry has eight-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Ashlar-coped skews and corniced stacks finish the roofline. The building is roofed in graded grey slate with a leaded roof to the tower. Cast-iron rainwater goods with hoppers are fitted throughout.

The interior contains a stone-flagged narthex with stone steps to the galleries and a pitched ceiling with exposed, painted rafters. A depressed arch with consoled brackets opens to the Dunlop Aisle. Timber-panelled galleries line the north, east, and west sides. The pulpit is timber-panelled with an arched and open-pedimented backing board. A timber-panelled Communion Table, a decorative timber font with lid, and a timber choir platform with ball-finialed side panels all date from the 1884 renovation. The timber pews also date from this period and were all made by John W Small. Brass and frosted-glass light fittings were added in 1924. Stained glass by Powell of London (1882), Gordon Webster, and others depicts Biblical and allegorical figures, armorial bearings, and saints. A bronze bell by Thomas Mears, London, was founded in 1837.

The churchyard is enclosed by a coped random whinstone rubble boundary wall with some railings. Round, conical-capped gatepiers with two-leaf cast-iron gates mark the main entrance. Pyramidal-capped, stop-chamfered red sandstone gatepiers with two-leaf cast-iron gates lead to the churchyard. The churchyard contains predominantly 18th and 19th century gravestones and monuments, including those of John Brown and Barbara Gilmour (1732).