Old Parish Church, Main Street, Thornton

The Old Parish Church in Main Street, Thornton, is a C19 Quoad Sacra Parish Church, originally built in 1835 by James Robertson for the parish of Markinch. In 1897, the firm of James Gillespie & Scott added transepts and replaced the windows, and the chancel area was altered in 1959. The building is in the shape of a 'T', constructed from squared and snecked rubble with droved ashlar quoins and stone cills, and features round-headed openings with keystones and voussoirs.

The east (entrance) elevation has an advanced gable to the right of centre, featuring two tall round-headed windows and a blocked arrow slit at the gablehead. A recessed bay to the left contains another tall round-headed window, and a headstone is positioned to the right. A low, recessed piend-roofed porch with a panelled timber door is on the outer left. The south elevation includes a small projecting porch with a coloured glass window, a datestone above, and a bellcote with four holes pierced in each face. The west elevation has an advanced gable to the left with two tall round-headed windows and an arrow slit at the gablehead. A later hall (not included in the listing) abuts the outer left side, while the recessed face to the right has a small window below a shouldered brick stack and a tall round-headed window to the left. The north elevation is symmetrical with three bays. A slightly advanced, broad gable at the centre is flanked by two round-headed windows, a glazed oculus above, and a ball finial at the gablehead. Further tall round-headed windows are in bays to either side of the centre, with the window to the right partly blocked by an extension. A low-pitched roofed porch and hall extend across the centre and right bays.

The windows are glazed with leaded, small-pane coloured glass. Stained glass windows are located in two centre windows on the north side and the south vestibule window. The roof is covered with grey slates. Other features include a shouldered and coped brick stack with a polygonal can, ashlar coped skews, bolection moulded and ball finials, cast iron downpipes with decorative rainwater hoppers.

The interior includes a vestibule with a boarded timber dado and stained glass window, with a gallery staircase to the east. The nave features a chancel area to the north with steps leading up to a C1934 pulpit (by Gillespie & Scott), a round-headed rear board flanked by marble memorial stones, and panelled gallery to the south. Broad transeptal arches are located to the east and west. Timber pews with two-leaf gates are in the outermost transeptal pews; a carved communion table and lectern, along with a panelled pulpit, are also present. The west transept window is partly blinded with a marble memorial stone at its base.

Two stained glass windows on the north side, by Douglas Hogg (1972), depict the Creation (left), with flowers, birds, butterflies, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph with the Wise Men, and the Resurrection (right), showing risen Christ and the Good Samaritan with a wounded man on a donkey. A 1985 stained glass window in the south vestibule shows the Church of Scotland burning bush.

The church is enclosed by semicircular coped and ashlar coped random rubble boundary walls with modern (1982) wrought iron railings, gates displaying the wording “THORNTON PARISH CHURCH”, and fish gate stops.