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Summary

Description

James Pearson Alison with George Hobkirk, 1913-16. 5-bay, gable-fronted, rectangular-plan, austere, early-13th-century Gothic style church incorporating fabric of 1843 church, with contemporary halls adjoining to N. Squared and snecked bull-faced Doddington sandstone with ashlar dressings. Base course to entrance (W) elevation; overhanging eaves. Lancet windows in predominantly chamfered openings, tripartite to W front, E front and side aisles and bipartite to clerestory. Angle buttresses.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: Gabled W elevation with 3 stone steps to 2-leaf timber-boarded door in deep chamfered surround with roll mouldings and foliate-stopped hoodmould; 3-light, pointed-arched, hoodmoulded W window above; parapeted, single-storey lobby to R; perpendicular gabled stair lobby to L with stepped band course and oblique doorway at re-entrant angle to hall.

Predominantly fixed diamond-paned leaded lights; some stained glass. Sawtooth-coped buttresses; gablet-ended ashlar-coped skews. Grey slate roof with metal ridge. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: Simple trussed and boarded stained pine ceiling carried on plain escutcheon stone corbels. Side aisles flanking wide nave with clerestory and chancel; gallery and lobbies at W end (entrance to gallery via stair in N lobby). Raised Iona marble floor to chancel. Borneo cedar communion table and chairs, lectern, organ case, pulpit (on stone base), pews, gallery and other furniture. Stone font on raised platform in pointed-arched recess at E end of N aisle.

HALLS: Timber-panelled corridor extending along N side of church with doorways to subsidiary rooms to N; lower hall through 2-leaf glazed timber doors at E end, with Gothic timber-panelled door to N aisle of church; folding timber partitions to N side of lower hall opening onto full-height main hall with timber-boarded ceiling supported on widely spaced fine cast-iron frames; stone winder stair from lower hall leading to vestry at mezzanine and upper hall at first floor, the latter with folding timber partition to 'minstrels' gallery' overlooking main hall. Dado panelling through corridor and halls; plain stone chimneypieces in vestry and subsidiary rooms.

Statement of Special Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. A simple but well-proportioned church by J P Alison (1862-1932), who was Hawick's most prominent architect. He commenced practice in the town in 1888 and remained there until his death, during which period he was responsible for a large number of buildings of widely varying types and styles, including churches for several denominations. He practised in partnership with George M Hobkirk (1884-1970) from at least the early 1920s, and this may be one of their earliest collaborations.

With the exception of the west window, which was originally the east window, all the stained glass is by Lilian J Pocock of London, dating from between 1929 and 1946.

The piers supporting the gallery carry inscriptions, the north one listing all ministers of the congregation, and the south one detailing:

ST GEORGE'S UNITED FREE CHURCH/ THIS CHURCH IS BUILT ON THE SITE AND INCLUDES PART OF THE WALLS OF THE PROTESTING CHURCH, THE FOUNDATION STONE OF WHICH WAS LAID BY WM NIXON ESQ OF LYNNWOOD 15TH SEPTEMBER 1843 AND WHICH WAS OPENED BY THE REV. PROF. WM CUNNINGHAM 2ND JUNE 1844./ IN 1914 THE ADJOINING PROPERTY WAS ACQUIRED & HALLS WERE BUILT./ ON 30TH AUG 1914 THE REV. W.A.P. JOHNMAN PREACHED FOR THE LAST TIME IN THE OLD CHURCH./ THE PRESENT CHURCH WAS OPENED ON 23RD SEPT 1916 BY THE VERY REV. PRIN. SIR GEORGE ADAM SMITH D.D. LL.D. MODERATOR OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY./ ARCHITECTS/ JAS. P. ALLISON/ GEO. M. HOBKIRK/ A UNION OF THE CONGREGATIONS OF ST GEORGE'S AND WEST PORT WAS EFFECTED ON 1ST APRIL 1959 TO FORM THE NEW CONGREGATION OF ST GEORGE'S WEST./ ON 22ND MARCH 1988 THE CONGREGATIONS OF ST MARGARET'S & WILTON SOUTH AND ST GEORGE'S WEST UNITED TO FORM TEVIOT PARISH CHURCH./ PSALM 133

The foundation stone of the original 1843 church is understood to hold a time capsule containing the following items relating to the congregation: the Resolutions of the Convocation with Memorial to Government; the Account of the First General Assembly of the Protesting Church; the Deed of Demission with the Signatures of the Ministers; and Dr Chalmers' financial report. List description revised following resurvey (2008).

References

Bibliography

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