Hownam Church And Graveyard

Hownam Church And Graveyard

Hownam Parish Church (Church of Scotland) is a listed ecclesiastical building situated in a bend of the Kale Water, forming a conspicuous group with the former manse to its south, particularly when approached from the north.

The church was rebuilt in 1907 by James Pearson Alison following fire damage to the previous structure. The original church on this site dated from the 16th century or possibly earlier. It was rebuilt in 1752 and again in 1844 by John Smith of Darnick, though the precise nature of the 1844 work is unclear. The main survival from the early medieval church is a round-headed arch on the south wall in the interior, now blocked.

The 1907 rebuilding is a 3-bay, T-plan church designed in the early English Gothic style with Arts and Crafts detailing. The design demonstrates architect Alison's sensitivity to the site's ecclesiastical heritage. The building is constructed with harled walls and diagonally droved sandstone dressings, including a base course with bracketed eaves. The roof is of Welsh slate with zinc ridge and cast-iron rainwater goods.

The most prominent external features are the gabled porch on the south elevation with pronounced splayed walls and the distinctive west gable bird-cage belfry with pagoda roof and ball finial. The porch contains a 2-leaf recessed timber-boarded door with strap hinges set within a chamfered margin. Windows and doors feature pointed arches with hood moulds and label stops. The windows are Y-traceried with chamfered margins and contain fixed-pane leaded lights with coloured borders. The eaves are formed by ashlar-coped skews with moulded skewputts.

A vestry and Roxburgh aisle were added to the north in 1907, also featuring splayed walls. The interior retains the medieval round-headed doorway, now blocked, and a wide arch at the northwest corner opening onto the Roxburgh aisle, which contains original box pews. The roof is a trussed open wooden construction.

The graveyard was originally situated to the south and east of the church and was extended northwards during the 20th century. Gravestones date from the 17th century to the present day. Several stones have been set into the church's exterior walls, including a 17th-century headstone in the east gable, a red sandstone 18th-century monument to the Hall family, and a fragmentary 18th-century monument featuring a columned niche with entablature and broken pediment, all on the south wall.

The graveyard is enclosed by rubble walls with gates and gatepiers at the southeast corner.

James Pearson Alison was a significant local architect who practised in Hawick from the late 1880s until his death in 1932, designing numerous buildings throughout Hawick, Jedburgh and the wider Borders region.