Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

METHIL, WELLESLEY ROAD, METHIL PARISH CHURCH (CHURCH OF SCOTLAND) WITH BOUNDARY WALLS, GATEPIERS AND GATESLB22712

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Date Added
24/11/1972
Local Authority
Fife
Planning Authority
Fife
Burgh
Buckhaven And Methil
NGR
NT 36979 99500
Coordinates
336979, 699500

Description

Reginald Fairlie, dated 1925; minor alteration to cloister circa 1950. Cruciform-plan, aisless Romanesque church with low pyramidal-roofed NW tower and cloistral link to transept. Snecked rubble with ashlar dressings. Droved ashlar base course with battered cope to E; eaves course. Round-headed openings. Buttresses; voussoirs; stone mullions.

SW (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: broad gabled elevation with tripartite arcade-effect entrance, 2-leaf outer doors with mosaic-detail tympanum flank small window to centre, each arch with engaged colonnettes; tripartite window above and arrowslit in gablehead.

NW (WELLESLEY ROAD) ELEVATION: small 5-light cloister to centre with adjacent boarded timber door to right, all under lean-to roof below 2 widely spread tripartite windows. Bell tower (see below) in penultimate bay to right and window to ground below tripartite window in bay to outer right. Transeptal-bay to left of centre with 3 windows, flanking full-height buttresses and arrowslit in gablehead, tripartite window to each return and 2 further tripartite windows in recessed bays to outer left (all tripartites at clerestorey level).

BELL TOWER: 2-stage, square-plan tower with windows to ground and on return to left at 1st stage, small engaged conical-roofed tower with arrowslits close to eaves on return to right with lower link in re-entrant angle and small window above. Slightly set-back 2nd stage with 3 square-headed arrowslits to each elevation giving way to finialled pyramid roof.

SE ELEVATION: transeptal bay to right of centre with 3 windows, flanking full-height buttresses and arrowslit in gablehead; door in small porch in re-entrant angle to right, and tripartite window to each return; 2 further tripartite windows in recessed bay to outer right. 4 single lights to left of centre, and small pyramid-roofed session house to outer left.

NE ELEVATION: blind 5-light arcaded opening with engaged colonnettes close to gablehead, and flanked by full-height buttresses with carved panels, that to right dated 1925.

Multi-pane leaded glazing (stained glass see below). Grey slates. Ashlar-coped skews.

INTERIOR: nave spanned by transverse concrete arches springing from attached stone columns with variously carved cushion capitals, segmental-headed ashlar arches to transepts and round-headed chancel arch. Rushworth and Dreaper organ to E with richly carved screen bearing Celtic and early Christian symbolism, integral elders' stall with arm-rests carved with beasts. Jacobean style pulpit; stone font and fixed timber pews. Small gallery to W over narthex.

STAINED GLASS: WWI memorial to N transept; WWII memorial by William Wilson (dedicated 9 Oct 1949) to S nave; John Davidson, Shipmaster and Pilot, Memorial 'Christ Stilling the Sea' c1939 to S nave; S transept 3 lights depicting SS John, Andrew and Paul, c1925.

BOUNDARY WALLS, GATEPIERS AND GATES: saddleback-coped boundary walls with pyramid-coped ashlar gatepiers and decorative cast-iron gates.

Statement of Special Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. Built for the Baird Trust (who recommended Reginald Fairley as architect) at a cost of ?24,000, on a site gifted by the Wemyss family. Fairley looked to Inchcolm Abbey and Tullibardine Collegiate Church for traditional patterns. The previous Methil Parish Church was situated in Lower Methil, and the foundation stone of that building (dated 1837) is now located in the Narthex of the present church. The Roman Catholic church, St Agatha's, Methilhaven Road, was also by Reginald Fairlie, pre-dating the Church of Scotland church and a more economical commission.

References

Bibliography

Patrick Nuttgens REGINALD FAIRLIE (1959), p30. Gifford FIFE (1992), p106. Cameron BYGONE METHIL (1994), p15. William Reid METHIL PARISH CHURCH.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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