Description

J M Wardrop, 1874. 5-bay, T-plan Early Decorated church in 13th century gothic style with projecting transepts and prominent advanced tower with gabled and finialled bellcote to E gable; gabled ancillary vestry accommodation to SW and small porch to re-entrant angle to NW. Hoodmoulded pointed trifoliate-headed arched windows; Large geometric hoodmoulded tracery window to N transept; 2 lancet windows to S (transept) and W gable ends (with cinquefoil to W); arrow slit windows and decorative carved stone cross finials to gable apexes. Red volcanic stone rubble; blonde sandstone stugged and droved chamfered quoins and margins; render to W elevation. Base course to porch, banded eaves course.

Margined diamond pane leaded glazing; 6-pane timber sash and case window to vestry. Pitched slate roofs; sawtooth stone roof to bellcote; wide sawtooth sandstone skews; beaked skewputts; stone ridges. Mixture of cast-iron and plastic rainwater goods. Bronze cockerel weathervane to bellcote.

INTERIOR: polygonal arched braced ceiling on beaked stone corbels over symmetrical nave with central aisle and side transepts. Painted walls with droved chamfered sandstone window reveals. Timber pulpit, pitch pine pews, some box pews with doors and integral tongue and groove dado panelling to walls. Four-centred arched 6-panel timber doors, barrel vaulted porch. Octagonal carved stone font.

GRAVEYARD WALLS, GATEPIERS AND WALLS: 18th century stone memorials attached to S elevation include arched gabled headstone and pedimented stone with winged angel head and inverted egg and dart border, 18th and 19th century stones to churchyard. Predominantly rubble stone walls, some concrete blockwork to E and W. Rusticated square stone gatepiers with wrought iron memorial gates dated 1914-1919.

Statement of Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. The church is a good example of an unaltered later 19th century church with decorative stone detailing and a good plain interior decorative scheme.

A church has been noted in Heriot since the 12th century, linked to the monks of 'Newbottle' from 1300 to the Reformation. In 1795 the church on this site is recorded as being old and insufficient prompting a rebuild; the foundations of a new church are said to have been layed in 1804, a building which was subsequently heightened and re-roofed. The present church was rebuilt again in 1874 off the 1804 foundations opening for worship on 30th June 1875.

J M Wardrop (1824-1882), of the renowned Edinburgh practice Wardrop and Reid, was a contemporary of Bryce and prominent revivalist known for his baronial mansions in the 1860s and 1870s. Concurrent with his work on mansion houses Wardrop rebuilt a large number of country parish churches in a distinctive early decorated style of which Heriot Church is a good example. Other examples of churches by Wardrop in the Borders include Stow (1872) and Ayton (1867) (see separate listings).

Old timber offering ladles and an hour glass from the previous church are stored by the pulpit, along with two wooden plates dated 1855 and made from the tree that supported the old bell.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77778121

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

• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)