Churchyard, Ardgour Parish Church

The churchyard surrounds Ardgour Parish Church, constructed in 1829 by Thomas Telford, with later alterations. The church is rectangular and built in the standard Parliamentary Church style, with a northeast front elevation. It is constructed of squared, coursed grey granite with contrasting tooled sandstone dressings and harled gables. A shallow pointed-headed entrance, originally in the outer bays of the northeast front, is now blocked. Two similar pointed-headed windows are centrally positioned on the main front, and a single window is found in each of the northwest and southeast gables. The windows are fitted with 1829 metal Y-tracery transom and mullion window frames, containing lattice pane glazing, except for the southeast gable window. A late 19th-century square, single-story porch with a crenellated wallhead now masks an entrance in the northwest gable. A small, single-story, two-bay vestry projects from the rear, with a door and a shallow pointed-headed window featuring a moulded wooden mullion, transomed Y-tracery and multi-pane Y-tracery glazing. A bellcote in the Parliamentary Church style is situated at the southeast gable, and a cross finial is located at the northwest gable. Flat skews are present. The interior was reconfigured in the late 19th century, particularly to the southeast. Two panelled doors are located centrally on the southwest wall, set within shallow pointed-headed openings and recessed in a similar shape; one provides access to the vestry, and the other is blind. Simple pine pews are present, some fitted with re-used brass candelabra with barley-sugar twist stems. An eagle lectern is also a reused feature. The communion table, pulpit, and Elders' seats were designed by Pilkington Jackson in the 1930s. The octagonal, panelled pulpit features simple carved detailing to the legs, with a half-round decoration at the angles. An inscription to A.J.H. MacLean of Ardgour and his widow is carved on the pulpit door. The simple Holy Table shares similar angled detailing with the pulpit. The Elders’ bench includes a shallow canopy above three seats, with a carved vine leaf pattern on the canopy and a backboard featuring four roundels displaying relief carvings of the insignia of the four Evangelists. The ceiling is simply boarded, and stained glass is positioned in the southeast window. The surrounding burial ground is enclosed by a simple rubble-walled boundary with a roughly shaped cope. Later 19th-century square, tooled ashlar gatepiers with pyramidal caps flank a short length of ornate cast-iron spear-head railing supported on a low coped retaining wall, accompanying a matching pair of cast-iron gates.