Prestongrange Church, Kirk Street, Prestonpans

Prestongrange Church, Kirk Street, Prestonpans

This is a Grade A listed church aligned east to west, with origins dating to 1596. The building was enlarged and substantially recast in 1774, and further extended in 1911 to designs by architect W E Wallace. The church comprises a western tower, a large northern aisle, a smaller southern aisle, and porches at both east and west ends. The walls are constructed in sandstone of varying quality reflecting different construction phases: the earliest sections are random rubble, progressing to coursed rubble, and later works employ squared and snecked ashlar with stugged and smooth-dressed margins. The tower and eastern gable are painted white.

The western elevation presents three bays. The central tower, dating from 1596, is four-sided and topped by a broach roof with an octagonal belfry added in the 1774 remodelling. Clock faces are positioned at the upper level on all four sides of the belfry. Two small windows punctuate the west wall only. A single window at first-floor level flanks the tower to the south, with an infilled window at ground level beneath it. To the north, a single round-arched window at first-floor level mirrors this arrangement. The central porch, a 1911 addition, projects forward with a piended roof and base course. It features a south-facing six-panelled door with moulded architrave, and bipartite windows to both west and north faces.

The eastern elevation is dominated by a large gable dating from the 1774 remodelling, pierced by a single tall round-arched window now internal to the building. A large gabled porch and stairwell, advanced to the centre, was added in 1911. This structure is topped by a Venetian window with raised margins, keystone and bracketed cill facing east. The south side of the porch is accessed by a six-panelled round-arched door within a rusticated ashlar surround featuring dentilled cornice. A single plain window is positioned to the north. A modern flat-roofed extension with vestry accommodation adjoins at the northeast corner.

The southern elevation is irregular in composition across approximately seven bays. The Hamilton Aisle projects from this face, roughly central in position and gabled. Its focal point is an imposing central doorway to a vault with a heavy Gibbs architrave, moulded and rusticated with a massive segmental keystone and cornice. Above this rises a large wall-tabernacle with Corinthian pilasters and open pediment, flanked by small windows. An external stair provides access to a plain doorway on the north side of the aisle, with a single small window at upper level on the south side. The eastern section of the elevation contains two tall arched windows with keystone and impost blocks, with several tombstones incorporated into the wall fabric. The western section comprises three bays: the westernmost contains a single stairwell window above an infilled doorway with a rough relieving arch; the easternmost features a tall arched window with keystone and impost blocks; and the central bay retains a moulded round-arched doorway, now infilled.

The northern elevation is symmetrically composed across four bays. The central two bays project forward as a gabled aisle and feature two tall round-arched keystoned windows facing north, topped by an ocular window. Single windows of the same style flank these to east and west. Large rooflights to the east and west illuminate the interior.

Windows throughout are timber sash and case with small panes. The tall arched windows are predominantly fitted with fifteen panes arranged in a Y-tracery pattern at the head. The roof is finished in graded Scotch slate with ridges in plain red clay tiles and simple finials. Small plain stacks serve the north aisle and Hamilton Aisle, while a decorative ashlar stack distinguishes the eastern porch.

The interior follows an essentially T-plan form with galleries to the east and west supported on single columns. An organ built by Ingram of Edinburgh in 1911 is positioned centrally in the south wall, flanked by the pulpit and communion table to the east. Most internal fittings date from 1891.

The gatelodge is a small gabled structure of 19th-century date constructed principally in squared and snecked sandstone with stugged and droved dressings. It features a plain door to the east and a small window in the north gable. The structure incorporates mortification panels from the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Adjacent square-section ashlar gatepiers are corniced with squat pyramidal caps and support decorative cast-iron gates. The boundary walls are random rubble with rubble cope.