Free Church, Coulter

This is a rectangular, simple Gothic-style former Free Church, dated 1843. Wallheads were raised and windows altered in 1874 by Thomas Bisset. The church is constructed of dark whinstone rubble, originally harled to the sides and rear, with cream sandstone ashlar dressings, and a grey slate roof. Buttressed angles are present on the front, with margined angles on the rear. The roof features ashlar-coped skews. The pointed windows have stugged dressings to the front, while the sides and rear feature margined Y-traceried and pointed windows respectively. A ridge ventilator is also present.

The front elevation includes an ashlar-coped, pedimented doorpiece, centrally located, with double boarded doors, roll-moulded jambs, and a pointed arch over the door bearing a date panel. Windows flank the doorway, and a large round gallery window sits above, featuring four round openings. A bellcote is positioned at the apex of the front gable. The right return elevation has two windows, while the left return elevation also has two windows, along with a single-storey, piended-roof vestry to the left and a stack base to the wallhead on the right. The rear elevation features two windows, a louvred ventilator to the attic, and a coped finial.

The interior has been largely stripped of its pews, and features a boarded dado and a panelled gallery supported by cast-iron columns. A two-tier pulpit incorporates a Gothic reredos-type wall panel. Decorative cast-iron balusters line the gallery stairs. The church interior also contains early 20th-century stencilling, a comb ceiling, and chimneypieces within the vestry.

The land for the church was provided by David Dixon of Hartree and Kilbucho, who had withdrawn from the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland alongside Dr Thomas Chalmers in 1843. The church forms a coherent historical group with Kirkwood Old Manse, Stables and Former Beadle's Cottage.

References include the Hamilton Advertiser, August/September 1874.