Bolton Parish Church

Bolton Parish Church, likely designed by Archibald Elliot in 1809 with James Burn acting as overseeing architect, is a simple Gothic church with an attached tower. The church is constructed of rubble sandstone with ashlar dressings from the Abbeymains Quarry, featuring a base course, rolled cornice, and blocking course, along with moulded jambs and stone mullions.

The tower is adjoined to the west end of the nave and comprises three stages separated by a string course and featuring angle buttresses to the second stage. A round arched doorway with a cavetto and roll-moulded surround, hooded mould, and two-leaf doors provides access. Tripartite lancet windows are present in the second stage on the west, north, and south sides, while the third stage has louvred round arched tripartite windows on each face, all topped by a crenellated parapet between elongated diesses bearing crocketted pinnacles.

The nave has two bays, with hood-moulded lancets flanking the tower and Y-traceried pointed arch windows along the north and south elevations and the east gable end. Timber diamond-pane glazing is set within sash and case windows on the north and south sides, and the roof is covered with grey slates.

The interior is simple, with painted plastered walls, a moulded cornice, and a comb ceiling. A central aisle runs through the church, and a gallery with box pews is situated at the west end, accessed by two flights of winding stone stairs. Clustered cast-iron columns support the gallery, alongside decorative electric "gas-lamp" centre lights. Stained glass windows at the east end depict Martha at the Tomb. Furnishings include a simple Gothic pine communion table, pulpit, and organ cases.

A Stuart mausoleum, dating to around 1800, is located nearby. This mausoleum houses the remains of the Stuarts of Eaglescairnie and is a square, symmetrical, neo-classical ashlar cube with a dome, incorporating base and blocking courses, a moulded cornice, recessed round arched panels on each face, arrow slits on three sides, and a boarded door on the fourth. A low ashlar coped rubble enclosure is adjacent to the doorway elevation.

A gabled rectangular hearse house, linking with former manse stables within the graveyard walls to the east, provides additional storage. It’s constructed with rubble and ashlar coped skews, featuring carriage doors at the west end and ventilation slits on the sides.

Rubble and coped retaining walls form part of the site.

Bolton Parish Church operates as an active Church of Scotland building. A grave-guard, situated in the vestibule at the foot of the tower, protects the graves of the recently deceased; a panel explains its origin following the 1832 Anatomy Act, intended to deter “Resurrectionists” or “Body-snatchers.” Agnes Burns, mother of the poet Robert Burns, and two of her children are buried within the churchyard, commemorated by a bronze plaque on the retaining walls. The parishes of Yester, Humbie, and Bolton have been historically linked.