Description

WATCH-HOUSE: Mid 19th century. Diminuitive single-storey gabled structure. Rubble with ashlar dressings. Steps to timber door and narrow, single slit-window to left; further small window to E gable. Grey slate. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

CHURCHYARD: enclosed by rubble boundary wall. Good collection of gravestones predating 19th century.

Statement of Interest

This 19th century watch house, located at the S corner of the Symington burial ground, is a well-preserved survival of its type. The watch house was used to maintained a nightly vigil over the churchyard, particularly after new burials, to deter body snatchers who intended to sell the corpses to medical institutions in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Watch houses often had a chimney for a fire to provide some level of comfort for the occupant, although there appears to be no evidence of such amenity in this case.

The burial ground surrounding Symington Parish Church (HBNUM: 14168 - see separate listing) appears to predate the existing church. It contains a number of significant burial monuments and table-top grave stones, the oldest decipherable stone dated 1629.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata IDs Q17853484 Q77702186

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)