Stow Kirk, Galashiels Road, Stow

Stow Kirk, built in 1873-6 by Wardrop and Reid, is a near T-plan church constructed in the First Pointed Gothic style. It occupies an elevated, terraced position above the Galawater, with a tall, three-stage spire tower to the north, a polygonal apse, and a single transept aisle to the west. The church is built of coursed, bull-face red sandstone with pale sandstone ashlar dressings. Architectural details include a plinth, moulded cill courses, eaves course, diagonal offset buttresses, pointed-arched openings, chamfered cills, decorative sandstone cinquefoil-headed tracery, architraved hoodmolds with moulded stops, and red sandstone voussoirs.

The tower is three-stage and square-plan, featuring a boarded timber door on the north elevation and a single-storey conical-capped stair tower to the west. Clockfaces are visible on the north and west elevations, along with louvred openings to the belfry incorporating stone gargoyles at the angles. The tower’s upper section includes quatrefoil mouldings to the parapet, pinnacled angle turrets, a broached octagonal spire with gabletted lucarnes, and a weathervane finial.

The west (road) elevation presents a large traceried three-light window within a central gabled bay (west aisle), a single-storey gabled porch with a pointed-arched and trefoil-headed surround to the doorway, and a canted porch at the apse and west aisle re-entrant angle. The east elevation has a large rose window in the east central gable, accompanied by a porch mirroring the west elevation’s design on the east side of the apse. All doors are boarded timber with decorative iron hinges.

The interior features painted walls and cream sandstone ashlar dressings, along with boarded timber dado panelling and panelled timber doors. A fine open timberwork ceiling is supported by massive arched timber braces resting on carved sandstone corbels. A pair of moulded arches lead to what was originally the west nave aisle, now blocked, and feature a cylindrical pier and decorative capitals. A timber gallery is located on the north side. The octagonal timber pulpit is adorned with linenfold panels, and a large timber-framed pipe organ is positioned above it. A decorative timber communion table is also present. The church contains a rich variety of 19th and 20th century stained glass (details available in The Buildings of Scotland: Borders). Some windows are by James Ballantine and Son. Other glazing is a combination of plain and coloured glass held with lead. The roof is grey slate with sawtooth stone skews and gabletted skewputts. Cast-iron rainwater goods are fitted with hoppers and decorative brackets.

The site is enclosed by coped sandstone ashlar boundary walls, with pierced timber gates at both the main and pedestrian entrances.