Cockpen Parish Church

Cockpen Parish Church

Cockpen Parish Church is a cruciform-plan, Tudor-Gothic church built between 1817 and 1820. The building was commissioned by the Earl of Dalhousie to replace a 12th-century church nearby that had become too small. The 1680 bell from the old church was transferred to the new building.

The architectural history of the church is complex. Richard Crichton designed the church in 1816, but died in 1817 shortly after the foundation stone was laid. The design was then executed by Richard and Robert Dickson, who were Crichton's nephews and pupils, and their work was supervised by Archibald Elliot. The tower design was altered in the early stages so that it could be seen from both Dalhousie Castle and Arniston House. John Dickson served as both builder and mason. The church was later refitted by Peddie and Kinnear in 1886. Richard and Robert Dickson went on to design a nearly identical church at Kilconquhar in Fife two years later.

The church is constructed of tooled coursed yellow sandstone with droved dressings polished to margins. It features a half-engaged square-plan tower with a base course, pointed segmental-arched chamfered openings with hoodmoulds and carved label-stops, trefoil-headed traceried windows, moulded eaves courses, and gableted angle buttresses.

The southwest elevation contains the entrance tower, which is advanced to the centre and four stages high. Dividing band courses and angle buttresses that rise to form slim octagonal turrets mark its divisions. The first stage has a pointed segmental-arched, roll-moulded doorway to the centre with a two-leaf decorative panelled timber door with iron studs, and a tooled panel above reading "MDCCCXX". The second stage has a two-light window to the centre. The third stage has two-light windows to the centre of each side. The fourth stage has louvred tripartite openings to each side. A pierced fretted parapet sits on a moulded eaves cornice. Flanking doorways with two-leaf panelled timber doors stand either side of the entrance tower.

The southeast elevation is asymmetrical and four bays wide. A gabled transept is advanced to the penultimate bay on the right, with a four-light window to the centre and a blank right return. A curved stair tower stands at the re-entrant angle to the left. Windows occupy the penultimate bay to the left and the outer left bay, while the outer right bay is blank.

The northeast elevation is near-symmetrical and three bays wide. A gabled chancel is advanced to the centre bay, with a four-light window to the centre. A lean-to with a boarded timber opening stands off-centre to the left, and a boarded timber door with a two-pane fanlight is positioned to the right return. A brick flue flanks the angle buttress to the left. A stone crucifix stands at the apex. The recessed bays to left and right are blank.

The northwest elevation mirrors the southeast elevation.

Diamond-pane windows with stained glass borders are fitted throughout. The roof is covered with grey slate and features a lead ridge, coped stone skews, and cast iron rainwater goods.

The interior was predominantly refitted by Peddie and Kinnear in 1886. A porch with a tiled floor and ribbed ceiling leads to a T-plan stair at the centre with turned timber balusters to the first flight, flanked on left and right by gothic panelled timber doors. Simple timber pews are fitted with cast iron and brass umbrella stands. The gallery is supported by cast iron columns to the northwest, southwest, and southeast, and retains original gothic timber fronts. The original timber pulpit has been incorporated into the 1886 organ at the centre of the chancel. A ribbed plaster vaulted ceiling rises from four corner shafts, with foliate plasterwork at intersections and plaster masks at terminations.

The boundary of the property includes decorative cast iron two-leaf gates flanked by two pedestrian gates. Four stugged pink sandstone gatepiers with stop-chamfered angles and corniced caps stand at the entrance. A rubble boundary wall with bull-faced and semicircular coping encloses the site. A Victorian wall letter box of Type C is positioned to the left of the southeast wall.

The church remains in use for ecclesiastical purposes.