Description

1885, J J Stevenson. Prominently sited, monumental, 6-bay, nave and aisle, Scots Gothic Revival church with square-plan tower to E surmounted by crown spire and with adjoining gabled hall and offices to North. Hammer-dressed coursed rubble with ashlar margins. String courses, battlements with broad merlons. Staged buttresses. 2-and 3-light, pointed-arch windows with curvilinear tracery. W gable with projecting polygonal apse.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: PRINCIPAL ELEVATION (S): 4-stage angle-buttressed tower to E, with 2-leaf timber entrance door set in pointed-arched, hood-moulded doorpiece with engaged colonettes. Simple carved tracery to tympanum. Crown spire to tower comprises 4-flying buttresses supporting 4-stage tapered spire, topped by finial.

Predominantly lead-pane fixed glazing to windows. Some stained glass. Grey Westmorland slates.

INTERIOR: plan form largely intact. Decorative open timber roof with some carved corbels. Timber pews with pulpit at W. Pointed-arch arcades separate aisles and naves. Panelled timber gallery to N, S and E, supported on slim cast-iron bundle-shafted columns. Panelled timber dado to walls. 1881 organ to E. (see Notes). Neo-Jacobean stone fire-surround to entrance vestibule.

Pair of part-glazed timber swing doors set in segmental arch leads to halls. Other stone fire surrounds.

CHURCH HALL AND OFFICES: adjoining to N. En-suite 2-storey offices with 2-and 4-light rectangular windows with stone mullions. Single-storey entrance porch and office to W. Church hall with angle buttresses and central, timber and slated polygonal flèche.

BOUNDARY WALL AND GATEPIERS: very low with pair of square-plan gatepiers to W with saddleback coping.

Statement of Interest

Part of an A-Group comprising: '1-3 (Inclusive Nos) King's Place and 1-3 (Inclusive Nos) King James Place and 55 and 57 King Street and Boundary Wall'; '4 and 5 King's Place'; '6 King's Place, Pedigree House'; 'Marshall Place, St Leonard's-in-the-Fields Church and Halls (Church of Scotland), Including Boundary Wall and Gatepiers'; '1-14 (Inclusive Nos) Marshall Place and 2 and 4 Nelson Street Including Boundary Walls And Railings'; '15-28 (Inclusive Nos) Marshall Place, 1 and 3 Nelson Street and 110 Scott Street Including Boundary Walls and Railings' and 'South Inch at Foot of King Street, Statue to Sir Walter Scott' (see separate listings).

Place of worship in use as such.

This impressive church is an outstanding example of the Scots Gothic Revival style and one of J J Stevenson's finest buildings. Its crown spire being a particularly noteworthy example of its form. Sitting in a prominent position overlooking the South Inch Park, it is a important landscape feature in the city. The interior retains its original decorative cohesion and has a fine, open timber roof. The halls were built together with the church and they are an important part of the group.

The church was originally built as the St Leonard's Free Church. The Free Church congregation, worshipping in a building in Victoria Street, wanted a larger, more architecturally interesting church. A site was agreed in 1882. The London-based architect J J Stevenson was chosen, probably because he had designed other Free Churches in Scotland. The church was begun in 1883 and the memorial stone laid in 1884. There were some initial construction problems as part of the city's lade lay underneath the site, but these were overcome. The stone came from quarries at Polmaise, near Stirling and the slates were from Westmorland. There was some disagreement between the architect and the building committee over the colour for the pews, as Stevenson wanted dark stained timber, and the committee wanted plain varnish - the architect got his way. The canopy over the pulpit was designed in 1971.

The organ, by Bryceson Brothers & Ellis, of London was originally in the Morningside United Presbyterian Church in Edinburgh (see separate listing), and was moved to this location in 1985.

John James Stevenson (1831-1908) was a London-based architect who came originally from Glasgow. He had once considered being a Free Church minister and he built a number of Free Churches in Scotland, including the South Church in Crieff (see separate listing). He was one of the founders of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and he took a scholarly approach to the Scots Gothic style, which is apparent in this church.

List description updated at resurvey (2009).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• St Leonard’s-in-the-Fields church at Wikipedia
• St Leonard’s-in-the-Fields church official website
• Wikidata Q17570883

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.

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