Christ Church, Teindhillgreen, Duns

Christ Church, Teindhillgreen, Duns

William Hay of Duns designed this Romanesque aisle church in 1857. It stands on a levelled terrace above the road, with a tower at the entrance crowned by a squat broach spire, a lower chancel at the east end, and a meeting room at the west end, forming an L-shaped plan. The building is constructed of cream squared, snecked and stugged sandstone. Round-headed windows feature channelled moulding around the upper half with chamfered cills. A burial ground lies to the east.

The tower projects from the west bay of the south side in two stages. A simple roll-moulded Romanesque doorway faces south, flanked by paired columns with cushion capitals and chevron moulding to the inner arch. A coped base course rises to impost level, above which a window lights the stair to the gallery, set into the west face. The second stage has paired louvred windows on each outer face. A massive machicolated parapet crowns the tower, supporting a very squat broach spire finished with lead flashing and fishscale slates, topped by a wrought-iron weathervane finial.

The south elevation displays a six-bay nave with the tower advancing from the left (west) bay. Windows light each of five aisle bays, with a shallow clerestorey containing two rectangular windows slotted between the aisle roof and eaves. The lower three-bay chancel sets back to the east with a window to each bay. At the left, the half-gable of the meeting room projects, featuring a large round-headed stop-chamfered doorway with a two-leaf boarded door.

The east elevation shows a three-light window with perpendicular tracery in a hoodmoulded two-centred arch within the projecting chancel gable, topped by a cross finial. Above stands the gable of the nave. A blank return of the south aisle runs left, while to the right a half-gable of the vestry has a cat-slide roof in the re-entrant angle with the aisle, a boarded door, and a window. The blank wall of the organ housing sets back further right.

The north elevation comprises, from left to right, blank walls of the chancel and vestry, three aisle bays with two clerestorey windows as on the south side, an advanced blank gable of the organ housing, and a slightly less advanced gable of the meeting room with a central window, apex stack, and sheds attached at ground level.

The west elevation features the gable end of the nave at centre with a tall window at ground level and a small rectangular window above. A rose window sits in the gablehead beneath a cross finial. To the left, the meeting room advances with three bays lit by windows; to the right the west face of the tower sets back (as described above).

Roof coverings employ grey slates with bands of fishscale slates to south faces, lead flashing, and triangular ashlar coping to skews with corbelled gablet skewputts. Windows throughout are diamond-pane leaded.

The interior develops the Romanesque theme with round-headed arches throughout, stugged cream sandstone, and polished dressings. Boarded doors feature elaborate wrought-iron hinges. The tower base contains a stair with a solid arcaded balustrade to the choir loft. The four-bay arcaded nave has plain pillars with cushion capitals. An arch to the choir loft (now enclosed by glazing) with matching balustrade rises from the nave, leading to a tall arch into the chancel. The chancel features a painted and stencilled panelled ceiling with gothic mouldings, and a stained glass window of the Crucifixion (in memory of Sir James Miller, died 1906) set above an alabaster reredos. A plain arcaded pulpit with arcaded panelling stands nearby. The font consists of two solid tiers: the first of pillars as above, the second of blind interlaced arcading. Stained glass appears in some side windows. The organ was installed by Harrison & Harrison in 1878 and rebuilt in 1927.

Boundary features include a whinstone boundary wall with stugged sandstone dressings. Two openings with wrought-iron gates lead to a unified pair of steps ascending to the first terrace; a further set of steps with cast-iron handrails leads to the main entrance. A cast-iron standard at the first steps supports a glazed lamp and carries a wrought-iron sign.

The burial ground includes a white marble enclosure containing graves and monuments of the Millers of Manderston, with Sir James Miller's memorial cross designed by G F Bodley.