Tranent Parish Church And Burial-Ground, Tranent, East Lothian

Entry Name: Tranent Parish Church And Burial-Ground

Listing Name: Tranent Parish Church (Church of Scotland) with Graveyard Walls, Gatepiers, Gates and Gravestones

Listing Date: 5 February 1971

Category: B

Source: Historic Scotland

Source ID: 388548

Historic Scotland Designation Reference: LB42100

Building Class: Cultural

ID on this website: 200388548

Location: Tranent

County: East Lothian

Town: Tranent

Electoral Ward: Tranent, Wallyford and Macmerry

Traditional County: East Lothian

Tagged with: Church building

Description

John Simpson, dated 1799, incorporating medieval fragments; interior recast and additions, Leslie Grahame Thomson, 1953. Sited on ground falling to N and W. Rubble sandstone, roughly squared and coursed in sections, and with raised ashlar margins and quoins.

E ELEVATION AND TOWER: square section 2-stage tower adjoined to centre of gabled N elevation; window at ground to E (plain margins), tripartite semi-circular stair windows to N and S, and band course where church eaves adjoing tower; upper stage with oculus to N, S and E and louvred lancets above; cornice and crenellated parapet with angle pinnacles. Single storey piend-roofed porches set in re-entrant angles to N (early 19th century) and S (L Grahame Thomson 1953), door in S porch; irregular windows. Windows lighting namve in gable above.

W ELEVATION: evidence of ofrmer windows; Venetian window with polished ashlar surround inserted at centre, 1953, with deep-set windows; keystoned oculus in gablehead. Ball finial. Wall mounted to right with consoled, moulded surround; inscription much weathered.

S ELEVATION: symmetrical; 4 round arched keystoned windows with impost blocks. Square recess at ground, apparently a bee-bole, with roll-moulded jambs, probably medieval fragment.

N ELEVATION: 2 set-off buttresses to right (medieval fragments), flanked to left by blocked windows. 3 round arched windows to left, detailed as S elevation, and with mortuary aisle adjoined below centre and left windows; further blocked window to outer left.

BURIAL ENCLOSURE: portion of medieval church, laterally serving as burial enclosure to family Cadell of Cockenzie. Curtain walls with harl-pointing, sections of ashlar coping and decorative wrought-iron railings. Blocked round arched 2-light window with chamfered reveals. Various wall monuments within, including ornate Baroque armourial monument to Andrew Barclay and his wife, Katherine Cooper.

Sash and case windows; small-pane glazing patterns, in decorative form in round arched windows. Grey slates. Ashlar coped skews and crenellations.

INTRERIOR: re-ordered Leslie Grahame Thomson, 1953, galleries removed. Shallow depressed arch vault; white painted walls and ceiling, blue in lower chancel to W. Circular ventilation grilles. Single aisle. 3 pedimented oak doorcases. Simple oak furnishings including pews. Wrought-iron sanctuary lamps. Stained glass in Venetian window, Margaret Chilton with Marjorie Kemp and John Blyth, 1953; S window by William Wilson, 1966. Timber stair to tower.

GRAVEYRD WALLS, PIERS, GATES, RAILINGS AND MONUMENTS: rubble walls to graveyard with substantial buttresses to N terraced wall; some rubble and ashlar coping. Wrought- and cast-iron gates. Droved ashlar gatepiers to SE. Various fine munuments in graveyard, dating from 15th and 16th centuries, mostly 18th and 19th century. Outstanding table and wall monuments and gravestones, replete with memento mori and Baroque details. 15th and 16th century gravestones (see PSAS).

Statement of Interest

The pre-Reformation church belonged to Holyrood Abbey. The manse lies to S, with its stables listed separately. Tranent Dovecot, closeby to N, falls within the Parish listings. Tranent Parish Church HaLL is now located in the former Wishart Church, Church Street.

External Links

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