Baptist Church, Pierowall, Westray is a Grade C listed building in the Orkney Islands local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 30 March 2001. Church. 3 related planning applications.

Baptist Church, Pierowall, Westray

WRENN ID
small-bronze-marsh
Grade
C
Local Planning Authority
Orkney Islands
Constituency
Orkney and Shetland MP: Mr Alistair Carmichael (LD)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
30 March 2001
Type
Church
Address
Baptist Church, Pierowall, Westray, KW17 2DH
OS grid reference
HY 435 485
Coordinates
59.31954, -2.99295
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Baptist Church in Pierowall, Westray, was built in 1850, with a small addition made to the south in the late 20th century. It features a three-bay, rectangular-plan main block with a rectangular-plan porch at the east elevation, creating an overall T-plan. The church has a plain symmetrical design with piended gablets, harled walls, and stone dressings, along with coped gables.

At the east elevation, the porch has a finialled gable end that projects to the center, with a window at the front and boarded timber doors at both sides. The main body of the church has large windows set back, and the lower height addition to the south is set back to the right, originally featuring a central entrance that has since been converted into a window.

The west elevation includes a small lean-to addition that projects to the center, flanked by large windows of the main church. There is also a small flat-roofed extension from the late 20th century that projects to the right of the earlier south addition.

The north elevation has a blank gable end, while the south elevation features the gable end of the lower height addition that projects to the center, with a small flat-roofed extension adjoining to the left. There are two small flanking windows, originally taller, set back from the main body of the church.

The main body of the church is mainly fitted with 12-pane timber sash and case windows, while multi-pane fixed timber frames are used elsewhere. The roof is covered with Caithness slate laid in diminishing courses.

Inside, the church has a later 20th century suspended ceiling. The interior features a boarded timber dado, pews, and a screen wall at the rear of a raised platform that includes a lectern and window shutters, all likely dating from the latter half of the 19th century.

The boundary wall surrounding the church is made of coursed rubble with rounded rubble coping, enclosing a large rectangular plot of land to the east.

Local climate

Baptist Church, Pierowall, Westray sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,130 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 89% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 98% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 3 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 99% of listed buildings. Of these, 2 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 3 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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