Leckie Memorial Church, Eastgate, Peebles

Leckie Memorial Church, Eastgate, Peebles

This is a 14th-century Gothic church designed by Peddie and Kinnear, built between 1875 and 1877. The interior was remodelled around 1977. The building comprises a rectangular-plan church with a broach spire at the south-west angle, a semi-circular apse, and a single-storey hall adjoined to the north.

The church is constructed from coursed whinstone with tooled yellow ashlar long and short quoins. Its windows are distinctive, featuring tabbed pointed arches with moulded and polished transoms and mullions. Terraced steps with small wing walls lead up to the building from Tweed Green.

South elevation (Tweed Green): A gabled elevation with a slightly advanced entrance porch. Three colonnettes flank a timber-boarded door with decorative iron hinges and support a moulded, arched surround. Bipartite pointed-arch windows flank the porch. A band course steps above the porch to form a sill course for a 4-light upper window, whose columns have decorative moulded imposts to the outer and centre of the bay and support a moulded window head. A round window containing 3 round lights sits in the apex of the main window, all contained within an ashlar surround. Further band courses run across the gable head with a 3-light ventilator above; a stone cross surmounts the apex. To the left of the elevation stands a 3-stage tower with angle buttresses and a broach spire. The 1st and 2nd stages have 2-light arched windows to the south and north elevations, and a tripartite window to the west with the main church adjoining to the east. All elevations of the 3rd stage feature 4 louvred ventilation lights contained within bipartite pointed-arch windows with round lights to the apex, flanked by clasping buttresses. The broach spire rises above with 2-light gablets projecting to each elevation. A band course runs at an unclear height up the spire with a cross finial, surmounted by a further roundel.

East elevation: Five 2-light arched bays with round upper lights and drip sills with sill course. A band course to the upper part of the elevation links all windows and forms integral hoodmoulds. A stepped buttress divides the windows. A section of blind wall appears to the left, aligned with the main entrance. Former bases of 2 ventilators remain visible to the roofline.

North elevation (Eastgate): A blind gable with a 3-light ventilator to the gablehead. A shorter semi-circular apse adjoins at the centre with 4 arched lights set high in the elevation. A band course links all windows and forms integral hoodmoulds. A single-storey link connects the church to the hall at ground floor level to the left, with a gabled boiler-house extension to the right, also linking to the hall.

West elevation: The broach spire tower adjoins at a right angle. To the centre and left, five 2-light arched bays with round upper lights and drip sills with sill course. A band course to the upper part of the elevation links all windows and forms integral hoodmoulds. A stepped buttress divides the windows.

The windows throughout feature arched leaded lights of mainly diamond quarry glass, with some opaque glass; decorative coloured leaded lights light the apse. The main body of the church is roofed with pitched and graded grey slate with slightly overlapping skews. The apse has a semi-conical grey slate roof. The hall has a pitched and piended grey slate roof with a wrought-iron decorative finial to the south apex and some roof lights to the rear elevation. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative hoppers complete the exterior.

Interior: Renovations around 1977 included carpeting the ground floor and replacing pews with stacking chairs. An Allan computer organ replaced the original pipe organ; removal of the organ screen opened the apse to incorporate it into the main body of the church. A large cross made from Kauri pine salvaged from a St Andrew's Church pew now hangs in the apse above a large tapestry. The pulpit and font also came from St Andrew's Church. The vestibule was renovated and the sanctuary rearranged around 1977.

Hall: The principal west elevation is a single storey of 6 bays. An entrance door in the 4th bay sits within a smooth margined surround with paired arch lights surmounting it. To the left are 3 bays of bipartite arched windows with heavy, plain transoms and mullions. To the right of the entrance, bays 5 and 6 follow the same design but are divided by a heavy banded buttress with a small flat-topped outshoot in the re-entrant angle below the 6th bay. The upper wall rises into a skewed gable with a stepped apex stack surmounting it.

The north elevation is a gable-end with a central 3-light window with drip sills. A band course near the apex contains a central carved rectangular stone with circular detail; a stone cross surmounts the apex. To the flanks of the gable, blind chamfered angle walls join it to the side elevations of the hall.

The east elevation is partially concealed by neighbouring structures. A large blind gable at the extreme left terminates in a stepped apex stack. A smaller, probably later piended extension adjoins to the right, with 3 further bipartite bays to the centre and right. A central iron lantern to the roofline terminates in a conical roof with a ball finial.

The south elevation is a blind wall with a small west-facing gabled boiler-house adjoining to the left, the apse to the middle, and a small link to the church on the right.

Boundary features: To the south (Tweed Green) entrance, low rubble walls with chamfered ashlar copes are flanked by much later plain wrought-iron railings. A pair of tall sandstone ashlar gatepiers on slightly projecting base plinths have chamfered upper angles leading to pyramidal caps with central gablets and geometric urn finials surmounting them. A pair of much later 2-leaf wrought-iron gates with decorative scrolls adjoin the arched top of the outer upright. Three sets of terraced steps lead to the church, each with low outer walls of chamfered copes terminating in short square end piers. The upper terrace, re-laid, is similar with walls arching to the church entrance terrace.

To the north (Eastgate) entrance, low rubble walls with chamfered ashlar copes are flanked by much later plain wrought-iron railings. A pair of tall sandstone ashlar gatepiers on slightly projecting base plinths have chamfered angles leading to flat-topped pyramidal caps with moulded bases rising into arched central detail; original finials are missing.

To the west, the building adjoins adjacent structures with no separate wall. To the east, a low coursed and random rubble wall with shaped rubble copes is shared with the adjoining mail yard.