Description

John Hay, Liverpool, 1861. Bain Hall by David Henry, St Andrews, 1897 (designed 1889). Rectangular-plan gothic church with broach spire. 5-bay nave with aisles under swept roof with clerestorey windows. Stugged squared and snecked rubble with ashlar dressings. Raked base course, continuous hoodmoulds forming string courses, and eaves course. 2-stage saw-tooth coped buttress; pointed- and Tudor-arched openings; traceried W window and rose E window; hoodmoulds and label-stops; stone mullions; boarded timber doors with decorative ironwork hinges.

W (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: gabled elevation with tower (see below) to left. Deeply moulded doorcase with floreate capitals and 2-leaf door, flanking small traceried lights and buttress beyond to right. Tall lancet in bay to right. 4-light traceried window with hoodmould and block label-stops to 2nd stage giving way to trefoil in stone finialled gablehead.

TOWER: 4-stage tower with broach spire. 1st stage blank to W, door (see below) to N; string course over giving way to 2nd course with tall lancet and hoodmould breaking into 3rd stage at W, small single light to N. 3rd stage to W and N with saw-tooth coping giving way to deep band with 3 traceried roundels (with external secondary glazing?) and flanking buttresses with miniature buttress angle detail. Each elevation of 4th stage with attenuated, louvered double lancet with tiny roundel above breaking eaves into gablet dormer stretching into broach spire with double string course giving way to diminutive gableted opening to alternate faces, and decorative cast-iron Celtic cross finial.

N ELEVATION: steps and ramp access to deep-set Tudor-arched doorcase to outer right with hoodmould, block label-stops and deeply chamfered reveals, small single light above and 4 large bipartite windows in bays to left. 4 flat-roofed tripartite timber clerestorey windows above. Low piended wing projecting to outer right.

S ELEVATION: mirrors N elevation, but without ramp access, and with bipartite window in lower piended bay to outer left.

E ELEVATION: lower piended bay projecting to ground, with rose window to centre behind and trefoil in gablehead with broad stack.

Diamond-pattern leaded glazing; stained glass see Interior; coloured margined glass to clerestorey windows. Grey slates and decorative terracotta ridge tiles. Coped rubble stack, ashlar-coped skews and moulded skewputts. Cast-iron downpipes with decorative rainwater hoppers and fixings.

INTERIOR: Galleried nave and aisles with fixed timber pews and boarded dadoes. Panelled and carved pulpit to E with fine 3-stage pipe organ behind, arcaded 2nd stage with intricate tracery-effect fretwork carving, crested 3rd stage with 'rose' to centre, stained glass rose window behind. Panelled gallery fronts and stiff-leaf capitalled cast-iron columns giving way to hammerbeam roof with later clerestorey windows. 1930 stained glass window to W in memory of William Cairns Forrester, depicting 'God the Shepherd' and 'the Light of the World'. Narthex with memorial tablets to Rev Adam Forman and Rev Hugh Elder. WWI and II memorial tablets, unveiled 1921 and 1949 respectively. Tudor arches lead to cantilevered turnpike stairs.

BAIN HALL: 3-bay, rectangular-plan, slated gabled church hall with lower gabled porch to N. Hoodmoulded, Tudor-arched door and trefoil-headed windows. Large round hoodmoulded gablehead windows; small-pane leaded glazing; cast-iron downpipes and rainwater hoppers.

BOUNDARY WALLS AND GATEPIERS: low coped boundary walls with gablet-coped, buttresses dividing piers and saddleback-coped rubble boundaries with pyramidally-coped gatepiers.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. Originally Leven Free Church, but known as the Forman Church, the building was officially opened in December 1861 by Rev Dr Guthrie of Edinburgh. Rev Adam Forman was unable, through ill health, to preach in the new building until March 1862. Substantial donations from John Balfour of Leven Oil Mills and Mr Durie helped toward the building costs of over ?3240. In 1900 Forman United Free Church was formed as a result of the union of Free and United Presbyterian Churches. At this time the building was renovated and clerestorey windows added at a cost of ?572.13s.5d. The pipe organ, designed by Mr Kerr, architect from Edinburgh, and given by Mr R B Forman in memory of his parents, was installed in 1911 for the 50th anniversary. In 1957 over ?2000 was spent on moving the organ forward and complete overhauling the instrument with a new console and new electric motor. Today's congregation was formed in 1975 when the Forman and St John's Churches united to form St Andrew's Parish Church. The alabaster Baptismal Font, Communion Table and chairs were all gifts of the Forman family. The Bain Hall, built at a cost of ?830, was the gift of David Bain, draper in Leven.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17810421

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

• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)