Kelso Old Parish Church, Abbey Row, Kelso

Kelso Old Parish Church, located on Abbey Row in Kelso, was built between 1771 and 1773 by masons James Nisbet and John Laidlaw, with carpentry work by John Purves. The church underwent alterations by William Elliot in 1823, and a belfry was added over the north porch in 1833. The building is octagonal in shape, featuring vestibule wings that project from the north and south sides. The east and west sides have blocked doors that are arched and pedimented. The body of the church is two stories high, with square hood-moulded windows in the gallery, constructed from coursed rubble with droved dressings and cill-courses. It has a pyramidal slated roof topped with an octagonal lantern. The north and south projecting wings are pedimented and have key-blocked round-headed, hood-moulded windows above the entrance doors. The Italianate timber belfry added in 1833 sits over the north porch. Inside, a flat ceiling replaced the original domed interior in 1823 to enhance acoustics, and the gallery was altered to a horse-shoe shape with a new pulpit and other features installed by Usher Holme from Liverpool in 1895.