Session House And Graveyard, Spott Parish Church

The building comprises a late 18th and early 19th century parish church with a 17th-century aisle incorporated to the south. Some work was carried out by John Mason of Spott in 1790 and 1809, with further additions and restoration in 1848. The church is a plain T-plan building, harled with ashlar dressings and chamfered margins, featuring round arched windows.

The nave has five bays to the south, and a low, gabled burial aisle adjoins the centre of the nave, with a wide doorway at ground level in the gable, a cusped window above, and a diamond finial. Two windows flank the aisle on each side. A taller gabled jamb adjoins the nave to the north, containing a round arched window on the gable and on the east and west returns. A wall monument of circa 1801 sits on the west return, framed by cluster columns with composite capitals and an entablature, commemorating Rev. Cunningham and his family. An oculus is located on the east gable, with a gabled porch added below circa 1848, accessed on the south side by a panelled door, with a rear door on the north side. Jougs, moved from an earlier church, are hung by the main door. Both east gables are topped with Latin cross finials. A round arched window is on the west gable, with a simple birdcage bellcote at the gable head topped with a Greek cross finial. The windows feature a diamond lead-paned glazing pattern with a border, and the roofs are covered in grey slates with saw-tooth ashlar skews.

The interior is simple, featuring an early 18th-century hexagonal pulpit with fluted columns and Corinthian capitals supporting an ogival headed, panelled backboard and a deep corniced sounding board, with a short flight of steps and a turned baluster rail. Box pews, including the Laird’s and Manse pews, are present. The aisles are flagged, the walls are white-washed, and the ceiling is coombed. Wide embrasures are incorporated into the windows. A stained glass window from 1967 depicting Christ Healing is in the west gable. Evidence of a former door to the south aisle remains, as does a blocked recess to the north of the east door.

The session house is a single-storey, gabled, T-plan building situated as a lodge to the church on the south side. It is constructed of squared and snecked red sandstone with stugged ashlar dressings. A gable porch is adjoined to the east gable, and the north elevation contains narrow windows with lead-paned, diamond-pattern glazing bordered by lead. Ashlar coped skews, grey slates, and a squat diamond stack are on the south wallhead.

Rubble boundary walls and arrowhead, cast-iron railings and cast-iron piers are located around the session house. Several early, decorative gravestones, featuring memento mori, are present, including one dated 1664. A Celtic cross of circa 1892 commemorates James Sprot, Patron of Spott House.