Description

Dated 1756, remodelled 1866 by David MacGibbon. 3-bay, roughly cruciform-plan Gothic former church with pointed and basket arched openings and short lucarned spire. Squared and snecked rubble to entrance elevation, random rubble to sides and rear, ashlar dressings.

E (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: symmetrical with pointed 2-leaf timber panelled door with decorative door furniture set in gabled porch to centre with trefoil datestone in gablehead. 3 hoodmoulded pointed arch traceried windows above; clock in gablehead. Low lucarned engaged spire to outer right with octagonal sectioned roof.

S ELEVATION: regular fenestration of shouldered arch windows, bowed projecting bay to centre with finial.

N ELEVATION: advanced gabled bay, added circa 1810, at centre with pointed arch window and ball finial.

Leaded lights and some stained glass, majority of windows boarded up (2007). Grey slate; some later rooflights; lead flashings; louvred ventilator at ridge.

INTERIOR: subdivided into two floors but retaining many original fittings including integrated pulpit and organ loft and galleries. A particular feature are the timber and part glazed screens to the narthex, which have art nouveau door handles and stained glass panels.

GRAVEYARD: surrounding church on all sides and enclosed by high, ashlar-coped boundary wall. Predominantly 18th and early-mid 19th century grave stones set against the wall.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building, no longer in use as such. The former Buccleuch Parish church makes a good contribution to the streetscape and is notable for the survival in situ of many high quality internal features; the remaining stained glass, dating from the 1866 restoration, includes a memorial window erected by the Marquess of Bute to his ancestor Flora MacLeod of Raasay. The screens have painted glass influenced by the Art Nouveau movement. The church was built in 1755 as a chapel of ease for the overcrowded St Cuthbert's Parish Church (hence Chapel Street) and opened in January 1756 with seating for 1200. According to Cassell's Old and New Edinburgh the original building was 'a hideous and unpretending structure'. The Gothic front of this church was designed by David MacGibbon in the later 19th century, although the gabled bay to the N had been added in 1810. The church closed in 1969 and is now used for storage by the University of Edinburgh.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Buccleuch Parish Church at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q56630992

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2