Balfron Parish Church And Churchyard, Kepculloch Road, Balfron

Balfron Parish Church And Churchyard, Kepculloch Road, Balfron

Church of Scotland church designed by John Herbertson of Glasgow in 1832, with transepts added mid to late 19th century, and a hall with lean-to addition to the east side in the late 20th century. The building adopts a T-plan with transepts positioned at the south end of the nave, transforming the original rectangular plan. An off-centre tower sits to the west side of the nave, adjoining the transept. The church displays simple Gothic detailing throughout, with pointed openings characteristic of the period.

The external walls are constructed in coursed stugged sandstone with sandstone ashlar dressings, featuring a base course (except to the transepts) and eaves course. Openings have chamfered surrounds.

The nave comprises four bays with tall narrow windows to each side of the two northernmost bays. At the south end, gabled transepts project from the southernmost bay, each containing a mullioned tripartite window with a taller central light and a pointed relieving arch. The west transept is crowned with a Celtic cross finial. The bay to the south of centre on the east side was probably formerly occupied by a gabled porch; this space is now occupied at lower level by a late 20th century rendered lean-to. The corresponding bay to the west side is occupied by the tower. The entrance to the church sits on the outer left of the west elevation, formed by a recessed tympanum carved with three narrow vertical panels, and is fitted with a replacement two-leaf boarded timber door featuring elaborate strap hinges.

The three-stage square-plan tower is topped by a band course at its apex, surmounted by a low parapet with water spouts at each angle, and finished with a pyramid roof and weathervane finial. The upper stage is recessed slightly on each side within flanking shallow gableted buttresses and contains a triple window arrangement with louvred vents on each side. A recessed tympanum carved with three narrow vertical panels provides access to the tower from the west side. A pair of narrow windows lights the stage above, while the bottom stage features an architraved window with a flat lintel rounded at the edges on the north side.

The south elevation displays a pair of tall narrow windows to the centre of the nave, with the blank side walls of the transepts set slightly back to either side. The north elevation terminates in a shallow gable end surmounted by a cross finial and contains a mullioned five-light window at the centre, with a tripartite arrangement of three small windows below.

The roofs are of grey slate, piended to the south of the nave. Windows are leaded multi-pane fixed lights, some incorporating stained glass.

The churchyard is accessed through a pair of rectangular-plan coursed sandstone gatepiers to the west, which are corniced with ogee-shaped coping and fitted with cast-iron gates with spiked finials. The churchyard is enclosed by a sandstone wall, coursed with squared coping to the west on either side of the gates, and elsewhere constructed of rubble with ridged rubble coping.

The interior features flat ceilings to the nave and vestibule, while the transepts open to the roof and are spanned by braced trusses. Pointed arches to the transept openings are supported on two short pairs of columns with brackets below. Much of the internal fittings date from the mid to late 19th century. A tiered gallery is supported on a pair of timber-clad cast-iron columns, with its front end cantilevered forward and incorporating cusped Gothic detailing to the panelled front. At the south end is a raised platform with railed sides containing cusped Gothic detailing. A hexagonal-plan Gothic pulpit with a gabled canopy and panelled sides stands here, with a Gothic panelled reredos-like dado of boarded timber behind it (boarded timber dado is employed elsewhere). A panelled timber organ, installed in 1947 and thought to have come from the former South Church of 1881–83 in Spinner Street, occupies the west transept. Plain boarded timber pews furnish the church. A pair of stained glass windows to the south, flanking the pulpit, probably date from the late 19th century and incorporate floral decoration within Gothic borders with biblical texts at the base. Stained glass windows to the transepts include one to the west depicting Christ and the saints in memory of Elizabeth Boss (died 1914), and one to the east depicting Christ the good shepherd in remembrance of the Rev Alexander Slessor (died July 1904). Decorative plaster hood-moulds surround these transept windows, and those to the south end probably date from the mid to late 19th century. The entrance vestibule at the north end has a red tiled floor and is fitted with a pair of six-panel timber doors into the nave, flanked by winding stone staircases leading to the gallery. These staircases feature wrought-iron balustrades incorporating cross designs, with timber handrails and turned newel posts.