Gate Piers And Churchyard Walls, Session House, Cults Parish Church

Cults Parish Church is a Grade B listed building dating from 1793, though it may incorporate fabric from an earlier church on the same site. The church is a simple rectangular-plan building with a three-stage square tower centrally placed against the west gable. It is constructed of rubble stone, with the south wall featuring droved and squared work, and ashlar margins throughout. The tower includes a forestair leading to a door at gallery level, which is lit by a single oculus. The tower is topped by a decorative birdcage bellcote, probably incorporating a re-used ball finial.

The south elevation displays two large, round-headed windows in the inner bays (one fitted with a 1957 leaded glass panel), with doors and gallery windows in the outer bays. The north elevation has a single central window and windows at each level in the outer bays. The doors are studded with decorative hinges. The building has straight skews and a slate roof.

The interior was partly altered in 1835 but retains significant 18th century features. These include a panelled, octagonal pulpit with a pilastered and pedimented rear screen, and panelled timber box pews. Doors throughout have decorative iron latches. A gallery running on three walls is supported on wooden columns with a panelled front; it includes a clock presented in 1843. The pulpit is flanked by two wall-mounted marble monuments: one to Sir David Wilkie RA, created by Samuel Joseph in 1844, and one to Reverend David Wilkie (father of Sir David) and his wife Isabella Lister, created by Sir Francis Chantrey RA in 1833.

The rubble-built cemetery walls enclose a number of interesting tombstones dating from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. At the west entrance to the churchyard stand square gatepiers and an early 19th century rubble-built session house. The session house has a door beneath a lamp bracket in the south gable and a single window in the west wall with spun glass panels. It has a single chimneystack and a pantile roof.

The church forms part of a Group with the manse (listed separately) and dovecote (listed separately). The church remains in ecclesiastical use and has not been significantly altered since the mid-19th century, retaining its late 18th century plan form, distinctive stonework features, and much of its original interior fixtures and fittings.

Sir David Wilkie RA (1785-1841) was an early 19th century painter who became an Associate of the Royal Academy and served as Principal Painter in Ordinary to King William IV and Queen Victoria. His father was the minister at the time the church was rebuilt. Sir David commissioned the monument to his parents, while his sister commissioned the monument to him. A scheme proposing the insertion of Gothic windows in 1873 was not carried out.