Garvald And Bara Parish Church And Churchyard, Garvald

The Garvald and Bara Parish Church, together with its churchyard, represents a complex history spanning several centuries. The core of the building is a church originally dating to the 12th century, with partial remains visible as a diamond-patterned band course of large squared masonry running on the west and north elevations. An aisle was added in 1677, and the entire structure was significantly reworked and extended in 1829. The church was originally linked to the Nunnery at Haddington.

The 1829 work is constructed of squared and coursed rubble with a base course, while the vestry and chancel are of snecked rubble with a harled east gable. The west gable features a piend-roofed porch with a window and a studded timber door on its south return. Wrought-iron jougs are set to the right of the porchway, and a segmentally arched window is set in the gable head, with a blocked former window below to the left. A gabled bellcote with an arched opening at the apex is also present. The south elevation has four hoodmoulded, pointed arch windows with small-pane and intersecting glazing patterns within sash and case frames. Ironwork brackets, remnants of former shutters, flank the windows. A square sundial in white stone, inscribed ‘GEORGE FA FECIT ANNO 1633’, is positioned nearby. The north aisle, dating to 1677, has a gabled projection with a 12-pane window in the upper part, and 6-pane windows below the eaves to the east and west, with a blocked window on the nave to the west. A gabled projection forms the vestry, extending from the main east gable and featuring stone mullioned bipartite, louvred lights. Two doorways are present on the south return, with a window above the left door. Ashlar coped skews and slate roofs finish the exterior.

The interior was regrettably stripped and redecorated in recent years, resulting in inappropriately pointed rubble walls and a light-coloured timber coomb ceiling. Features include an oak altar from 1912, modern pine seating and pulpit, and a modern stained-glass window above the gable. A door to the vestry is accessed through a curtain reredos.

The churchyard is enclosed by rubble walls with decorative cast-iron piers leading to arrowhead gates. Two simple, curtain wall ashlar family mausolea, constructed of grey and red stone, stand to the east of the graveyard. A range of gravestones, some dating from early periods, are present, displaying classical details and memento mori. The church remains in ecclesiastical use. The practice of placing jougs was also observed at Spott Church.