Burial Ground, Longformacus Parish Church

Longformacus Church (Church of Scotland) including Lampstand, Graveyard and Boundary Walls

Longformacus Parish Church is a rectangular-plan, plain gothic church rebuilt in 1730 on the foundations of a previous church. It was repaired circa 1830, then extensively renovated by George Fortune of Duns between 1892 and 1893, with a west aisle added in 1894. The building remains in ecclesiastical use.

The church comprises a nave with a bellcote to the west and a bowed apse to the east. A projecting gabled aisle is centred in the north elevation, with a lean-to vestry and lean-to porch set in re-entrant angles to the left and right respectively. A slightly lower projecting gabled aisle is centred in the west elevation. The fabric is harl-pointed rubble sandstone with cream sandstone ashlar dressings (droved in part) and some rendered pointing. Openings are predominantly pointed-arched with chamfered details and long and short surrounds; those to the apse are round-arched. Cills are chamfered. Roofs are graded grey slate with stepped stone skews, gabletted skewputts, and cast-iron rainwater goods.

The west entrance elevation comprises two bays. Steps lead to a pointed-arched boarded timber door in the outer left bay. The aisle to the outer right is buttressed and features a Y-traceried window at its centre with a vesica-shaped opening aligned above and a surmounting cruciform finial. An ogee-roofed sandstone birdcage bellcote surmounts the nave gable and contains a bell inscribed JB 1892 by J Barwell of Birmingham.

The north elevation features a gabled bay at its centre with a Y-traceried window beneath the apex. To the left is a two-bay vestry with a bipartite window in the right bay (featuring a columnar mullion with stylised capital) and a single window in the left bay; a pointed-arched boarded timber door opens in the return to the left. A round-arched window appears in the bowed apse recessed to the outer left. To the right of centre is a three-bay porch with a pointed-arched boarded timber door offset to the left, a finialled gable above dated 189(2?), a single window in the left bay, and a bipartite window in the right bay (columnar mullion with stylised capital). A Y-traceried window in the west aisle is recessed to the outer right.

The south elevation comprises a four-bay nave with a plain pointed-arched window in the outer right bay and Y-traceried windows in the remaining bays to the left. An engaged sundial is aligned beneath the skewputt to the outer left with metal gnomons in place, and iron jougs are mounted below. A Y-traceried window in the west aisle is slightly recessed to the outer left, and a round-arched window appears in the bowed apse recessed to the outer right.

The east rear elevation shows regularly spaced windows in the bowed apse centred in the east gable, surmounted by a cross finial.

Glazing is predominantly plain leaded with coloured margins, with some decorative stained glass to the nave and west aisle. A Landale memorial window depicting Poverty, Chastity and Obedience dates post-1943. Small rooflights are also present.

The interior is a long, narrow space with predominantly dark stained Siberian deal throughout (possibly dark stained oak in part). A tiled vestibule floor features stained and boarded timber dado panelling and a boarded timber ceiling. The nave comprises a tiled floor with timber boards beneath pews, boarded timber dado panelling, whitewashed walls, and an open timber keel-shape hammerbeam roof with carved foliate springers and figurative heads in the west aisle. Engaged columns frame openings with painted shafts and plain sandstone capitals. Timber pews are throughout.

The raised west aisle contains timber pews, boarded timber dado panelling, and a foliate iron screen to its front. The north aisle features a blind arcaded timber screen to its front, a single chair centred beneath the window, and a boarded timber door to the left. At the east end is a carved timber pulpit and carved timber font. A stone set on the south wall bears a Sinclair family coat-of-arms with ?IS? engraved above (presumed John or James Sinclair). A boarded timber door accesses the vestry to the north. A large pointed arch frames the raised apse to the east, which contains blind arcading to timber choir stalls, a timber communion table, a boarded timber ceiling, and a stained glass window at its centre. Various engraved tablets and decorative light fittings appear throughout.

A single iron lampstand stands near the west door, its oil lamp now missing.

The graveyard to the south is near square-plan with gravestones arranged in irregular rows, representing a variety of types from the 18th and 19th centuries, some with figurative panels, and various table-top monuments. A near square-plan enclosed burial ground in the southeast corner is dedicated to the Brown family, featuring a stepped wall to the west with round-arched, columnar-framed tablets set in its east face (bearing nailhead and zig-zag mouldings) and blind intersecting arcading above engaged columns with cushion capitals to the west face. Regularly spaced cruciform stones stand within the enclosure. Barley-twist iron railings on a low sandstone wall enclose the site with fleur-de-lys finials; regularly spaced panelled, square-plan piers with engaged angle columns (cushion capitals) and shallow pyramidal caps (missing in part) mark the perimeter. The pedestrian entry gate is missing. Rubble-coped rubble walls enclose the entire site with timber gates.

Historical context and architectural significance

The church was built on the foundations of a previous structure, and it is thought that the 18th-century rebuild may incorporate parts of the earlier edifice. Prior to 1892, the church was a simple structure "modelled after the plain fashion" with a galleried interior. Its low flat ceiling imparted "a depressing and dingy appearance" according to accounts in the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club Transactions. In 1892, Andrew Smith of Whitchester commissioned architect George Fortune of Duns to carry out extensive renovations. Fortune created both the west and north aisles and added the bowed apse. He removed the galleries, opened the roof, and re-seated the entire interior to face the new apse to the east, moving the pulpit from its original position in the south wall. Following completion, Ferguson commended the church as "a model of what a small country parish church should be" (Berwickshire Naturalists' Club Transactions, Vol 16). Considerable effort was made "to preserve the historical features of the older building" during renovation, as noted in Berwickshire Naturalists' Club Transactions, Vol 20. With the majority of 18th and 19th-century detailing intact, Longformacus Church remains one of the most significant buildings in the parish.