New Abbey Parish Church, Dunfermline Abbey, Dunfermline, Dunfermline, Fife

Description

William Burn, 1818-21; alterations R R Anderson, 1905. Cruciform-plan; Perpendicular Gothic Revival aisled church with central crossing tower; pair of flanking stair vestibules extending to W end adjoining nave of Dunfermline Abbey; low apsidal sessions house to E. Droved sandstone ashlar with polished ashlar dressings. Base course except to sessions house; crenellated parapet above moulded band course, except to tower and W bay. Hood-moulded Gothic windows mainly with panel tracery. Bays divided by full height stepped gablet-headed buttresses.

NAVE: 3 bays and W bay (adjoining abbey nave). Aisle window to each bay and clerestory window set back. Pair of buttresses at right angles at W termination of nave proper; one surmounted by pinnacle comprising hexagonal shaft surmounted by hexagonal cone with crocket finial. W bay set back; corbelled parapet to aisle and nave; Y-traceried window to aisle; blind triangular-headed window with flanking nook shafts above; round-arched clerestory window set back.

E END: large E window incorporating traceried rose; carved heads as hood-mould stops; cusped panel rising above like head of ogee with sprocketed finial. Similar trefoiled panel at apex of gable above; surmounted by cross finial. Low pentagonal apse of sessions house projecting from rectangular section below; lancet window to all except outer flanking bays. Entrance with studded panelled timber door to outer right bay. Flanking hexagonal corner towers; both with 4 band courses and course of pendant triangles; surmounted by hexagonal conical pinnacles with crocket finials. Flanking aisles, each with window. Buttresses set at right angles at E corners of chancel; pinnacle comprising hexagonal shaft surmounted by hexagonal cone with crocket finial in between. Single window to either side of chancel aisle; one set back to clerestory.

W END: adjoins Dunfermline Abbey church nave. Central entrance with large window above; 2-leaf panelled timber door with part-glazed inner porch. Flanking projecting stair vestibules occupy 1st bay of aisles of abbey church nave; each with entrance with 2-leaf panelled timber door; glazed upper sections of wall set within groin vault of abbey church.

TRANSEPTS: central entrance set within shallow gabled porch to each gable end; flanking pinnacles comprising hexagonal shaft on square base surmounted by hexagonal cone; crocket finial at apex; 2-leaf panelled timber door with part-glazed inner porch. Large window above; Cross finial to gable. Pair of flanking buttresses at right angles at corners of transepts; each with pinnacle comprising hexagonal shaft on square base surmounted by hexagonal cone with crocket finial. Lower and upper windows to outer bay of each side of transept.

CROSSING TOWER: single window to each side over transepts; pair of windows to each side over chancel/nave. Pair of buttresses at right angles at each corner of tower; each with pinnacle comprising hexagonal shaft on square base surmounted by hexagonal cone with crocket finial. Balustrade of open stonework lettering bearing words 'KING ROBERT THE BRUCE'; crown finials to hexagonal dividing balusters.

Leaded fixed light windows. Grey slate roof.

INTERIOR: flat stellar rib vaulting with elaborate bosses. Clustered shafts with moulded capitals to piers. Head bosses flanking arches. Galleries to nave aisles and W end; entrances to stair vestibules at W end of aisles; 2-leaf panelled timber doors with Gothic ornamentation to panels at ground and gallery level; stone half-turn staircese with cast iron balustrade to each. Plastered walls painted to imitate ashlar and with stencilled frieze below clerestory by R Rowand Anderston, 1905. Entrance with panelled timber door with Gothic ornamentation to sessions house at E end. E window depicting Last Supper and Resurrection by Ballantine and Gardiner; S choir aisle windows by Alexander Strachan, 1933 and James Ballantine II, 1914; E and W windows of S transept by G F Bodley (Epiphany, 1900-01 and Ascension 1880); S window of S transept (St Margaret) by Douglas Strachan, circa 1935; N transept window by Gordon Webster, 1974; S aisle windows by Ballantine, circa 1930 and William Wilson, 1968. Organ in N choir aisle, 1882 by Forster and Andrews of Glasgow (rebuilt 1911 and 1967). Pews and panelled timber dados probably early 20th century. S choir aisle with timber panelling incorporating war memorials by James Shearer, 1952. Tomb of Robert the Bruce in choir with inscribed brass depiction of him set in flat porphyry slab by Stewart McGlashan and Son, 1889; Gothic pulpit/baldacchino situated above by R Rowand Anderson, 1905; also communion table; eagle lectern, 1931, carved by Thomas Good to design by Matthew M Ochterlony and William Williamson. Elaborately carved former magistrates' pew of 1610 set in N wall of N transept. Monuments include recumbent effigy of General Robert Bruce with mourning woman by J H Foley (1863-68) and recumbent effigy of Charles Bruce with angel behind by Matthew Noble (1870), both in S transept.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. A-Group with Dunfermline Abbey, Nave, Gatehouse, Remains of Dorter and Reredorter, Frater Range, Palace and Kitchen and Entrance Gateways and Boundary Wall (see separate list descriptions). Built on the site of the choir and transepts of Dunfermline Abbey church, its westernmost bays (housing the stair vestibules) are designed to blend in with the extant nave. The open stonework lettering at the apex of the tower is thought to derive from that at Hill House, an earlier 17th century laird's house on Limekilns Road (see separate list description). A significant building by an important architect.

Scheduled Ancient Monument.

External Links

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