Edrom Parish Church

Edrom Parish Church

This is a substantial cross-plan church, rebuilt in 1737 using old foundations and incorporating earlier fabric, with major restoration and additions carried out in 1886. The building is constructed from roughly squared and snecked sandstone with broadly-droved ashlar dressings to the main walls; later additions are of stugged sandstone ashlar. All stonework features chamfered margins.

The church comprises a central body with a south transept (housing the Blackadder vault, now closed off from the main church) and a north transept with a gallery. The exterior is distinguished by a series of Tudor-arched windows, each with a gabled dormerhead set above the eaves course, arranged across multiple elevations.

On the south elevation, a four-bay arrangement is broken by a gabled projection in the inner left bay that houses the Blackadder vault. This projection contains a panelled door at ground level and a point-arched window above, flanked by diagonal buttresses. These buttresses are capped with ashlar plaques: the southeastern example is inscribed "Repaired by Sir John Home of Blackadder Baronet in the year 1696" and formerly supported a base and canopy with a statue of a saint, now removed (as of 1996); the southwestern plaque reads "Founded by Robert Blackadder Archbishop of Glasgow in the year 1499" though it is now weathered and largely illegible, with an eroded coat of arms beneath. Windows pierce the outer right of the east return and the centre of the west return elevation.

The east elevation is gabled with a Tudor-arched cusp-traceried window and an ashlar cruciform finial to the apex. The west elevation is similar but features an ashlar two-stage corbelled bellcote at the apex instead of a finial.

The north elevation presents a complex arrangement of five bays. At the centre stands a gabled projection with a deep-set two-leaf point-arched boarded door beneath a hoodmould at ground level, flanked by small Tudor-arched windows and a rose window in the gablehead above. Diagonal buttresses flank this projection, with the northeastern buttress bearing an inscribed stone reading "Restored and enlarged 1886". Windows appear at ground level and at first floor with gabled dormerheads breaking the eaves. Each inner bay contains a gabled projection of an earlier building phase, set back from the central projection, featuring a long Tudor-arched window with a corresponding window at first floor above. A gabled porch to the northeast re-entrant angle contains a Tudor-arched boarded door and diagonal buttress, whilst a monopitch single-storey addition to the northwest re-entrant angle contains a boarded door and Tudor-arched window.

The windows throughout the building are coloured border-glazed timber, with some 12-pane timber sash and case windows. The roof is slate with ashlar coped skews, skew corbels, and ashlar finials to the gableheads, topped with terracotta ridge tiles. Two fishscale slate pyramidal-roofed vents, one to the principal body of the church and one to the 1886 projection, each have a cast-iron finial.

Interior

Access to the north transept serves as the main entrance. A gallery and organ loft occupy the north end of the north transept, above which a panelled timber parapet with trefoil-pierced frieze displays a clock. The north transept contains two aisles and cast-iron columns. The south transept is closed from the main body with timber panelling and timber tracery above glass panels.

An important ornamentally painted timber-framed organ occupies the north transept, manufactured by Wadsworth of Manchester and Aberdeen. It was gifted by Evelyn Houston Boswell in memory of her mother, Lady Euphemia Houston Boswell, who died on 29 December 1882.

The centre of the south wall features an oak Gothic-style communion table, accompanied by chairs formerly belonging to Allanton Free Church and given in memory of the Reverend and Mrs Blades. A pine pulpit with flanking stairs and pierced floral motifs stands nearby, backed by a point-arched timber panel. Pine pews with brass umbrella stands furnish the church. The roof is scissor-trussed.

A font dated 1885 stands within the church: it is of ashlar construction, octagonal in plan with an octagonal pedestal and shaft, and bears the inscription "Suffer little children to come unto me" carved to the bowl lip. Seven wall memorials with written texts on panels are distributed throughout. A vestry to the northwest contains a timber chimneypiece, cast-iron grate, and retains an earlier communion table and chair used in the parish church before the present pieces were installed.

The Blackadder Vault

The Blackadder vault is accessed through an external door to the south of the south transept. A partition separating it from the main church was erected in the 1970s. The vault dates from 1499, when it was commissioned by Robert Blackadder, Archbishop of Glasgow, and dedicated to Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist. It was subsequently altered by Sir John Home of Blackadder in 1696.

The vault extends to basement level and contains large slab memorials bearing the names of those commemorated by wall tablets in the aisle above. A particularly notable ashlar tomb occupies the northeast corner, containing the remains of Patrick Home of Broomhouse and his third wife, represented by two full-length effigies dated 1553. The male figure is depicted in knight's armour, and the rectangular sarcophagus is inscribed on its slab.

A stair to the southeast leads to a south aisle at ground level, which contains six wall tablets to members of the Houston and Houston Boswell families, the earliest dating from 1812. Of particular note is a fine ashlar tablet with green marble surround and gilt-painted carved lettering, commemorating Sir George Reginald Houston Boswell, who died in 1915 during active service in the First World War, on the west wall.

The Kelloe vault lies beneath the north aisle but remains closed following the alterations of 1886.

Graveyard

The Logan Vault stands to the west of the west transept. It is constructed of harl-pointed sandstone rubble with a concrete roof and incorporates a chevron-carved Norman arch from the original church (likely removed during the 1737 rebuilding) as its entrance arch to the east elevation. The interior is barrel-vaulted and contains three memorial stones, the earliest from 1790. A slate gravestone abutting the north elevation commemorates John Logan (died 1812) and his wife Elizabeth (died 1829), with further gravestones to the north.

The Campbell Swinton (of Kimmerghame) Monument stands to the west end of the graveyard. It is an ashlar construction in classical style with a U-plan, featuring a base course, pilasters, fluted frieze, modillioned cornice, blocking course, and a broken segmental pediment with a coat of arms to the centre. Dedicatory plaques are set between the pilasters.

The Fordyce Buchan (of Kelloe) Monument abuts the Campbell Swinton monument to its north side. It is of Jacobean-style ashlar construction with base course, ridge-coping, a coat of arms to the centre, a stepped gablehead above, and three dedicatory panels below.

The graveyard contains various other impressive gravestones and monuments, including a large red sandstone monument to the east boundary with a round-arched niche containing a central obelisk (heavily weathered) and, adjacent to its north, a Palladian-inspired monument with ashlar and a broken pediment containing a round-arched recess with a marble plaque dedicated to Colin Campbell MacKay of Bighouse (1776–1841), flanked by walls with round-arched recesses containing inset dedicatory stones. A red sandstone gravestone with weathered inscription from 1669 onwards stands to the southeast of the Blackadder vault, along with numerous other early gravestones throughout the graveyard.

Hearse House and Gatepiers

To the north of the church stand sandstone drum piers with timber two-leaf vehicular gates. The hearse house is a rectangular-plan early 19th-century rubble building with stugged ashlar dressings, featuring a two-leaf boarded door with timber lintel to the north elevation. The roof is slate with ashlar coped skews.