Beith Trinity Church, Wilson Street, Beith

Beith Trinity Church stands prominently at the head of Wilson Street on a triangular site. Built originally in 1883 as Hamilfield Free Church, the building was destroyed by fire in 1916 and subsequently rebuilt between 1923 and 1926 by the architects Fryers and Penman. The church cost £11,000 to rebuild and opened on 20th January 1926. Following a merger of three congregations in 1917 to form Beith United Free Church, the building became Beith Trinity when the congregation reverted to the Church of Scotland in 1929. The church remains in ecclesiastical use.

The building is a simple gabled and buttressed Gothic church constructed of buff squared and snecked stugged sandstone with dressed margins, a base course, eaves course, and straight skews. A slender octagonal four-stage weathervaned spire extends to the south-west, with a transept to the south-east and an adjoining gabled hall at right angles.

The south-west principal elevation comprises three bays plus the transept. The central entrance bay contains a two-leaf timber boarded door flanked by short lancets, all set within a continuous hoodmould with foliate-carved stops. Above is a Y-traceried window to the first floor and an oculus above. The flanking bays have blind oculi to ground level and lancets above. The spire rises to the right with pointed-arched openings.

The north-west elevation has six bays, four with single tall lancets flanked by buttresses. A gabled bay to the outer right contains a quatrefoil blind oculus above a lancet. To the left is a blocked gabled entrance with timber boarded door and quatrefoil blind oculus above. The outermost left bay is a chancel bay with a short lancet. The north-east rear elevation is partially obscured but shows a chancel bay with a Y-traceried window.

The adjoining hall is buttressed with a gabled bay featuring a central timber boarded door set within a chamfered pointed arch, stone mullioned windows, and flanking short lancets. A tripartite window sits above, followed by five bipartite bays to the right forming a single-storey hall, with a further entrance bay to the outer right on the street.

Plain rectangular-pane leaded glazing is used throughout, with some stained glass. The roof is covered in greenish-grey slates with terracotta ridge tiles and cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative hoppers.

The interior features an entrance vestibule with plain timber panelling and timber carved panelled doors. The nave contains plain timber pews and a timber queen-strut ceiling on plain corbels, with a gallery to the south-west. A grey marble baptismal font stands on a square plinth.

The chancel, accessed through a pointed arch to the north-east, has a coved ribbed ceiling with cherub corbels. Organ pipes stand to left and right, with the organ positioned to the right. The chancel contains a three-light war memorial window by John C Hall & Co, Glasgow. An oak pulpit stands at the crossing. The transept to the south-east features a war memorial window and three transept windows depicting St Stephen, Mary and St Paul, made by Guthrie & Wells Ltd, Glasgow. A vestry contains a Tudor-arched timber chimneypiece with outer Gothic pilasters and carved quatrefoils. The adjoining hall is plain with timber boarding to the dado.

The church's interior, whilst relatively plain, is notable for its chancel and furnishings. Beith's significant furniture-making industry provided the cabinetmakers and carvers who created the carved oak communion furniture in the chancel and war memorial panels. A work party of 44 local craftsmen was assembled for this task.

The boundary comprises coped sandstone walls to the front and side with plain railings over low sections, and Gothic-style cast-iron gatepiers with gates to the main entrance.