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

CRAIGS BANK, CRAIGSBANK PARISH CHURCH (CHURCH OF SCOTLAND) WITH HALL (INCLUDING FORMER CHURCH)LB48977

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category
A
Date Added
13/11/2002
Local Authority
Edinburgh
Planning Authority
Edinburgh
Burgh
Edinburgh
NGR
NT 19090 73038
Coordinates
319090, 673038

Description

Sir William Kininmonth of Rowand Anderson, Kininmonth & Paul, 1964-66, outstanding near-windowless, square-plan flat-roofed church with semicircular entrance and bell tower, formerly with moat, and with sunk nave to interior, inverted clerestorey and floating ceiling effect, attached to former plain Lorimerian church, 1937, extended 1954, converted to hall, 1966. Church of brick, concrete and painted drydash: Hall of squared and snecked sandstone rubble with stugged dressings and base course. CHURCH:W ENTRANCE AND BELL TOWER: open, semicircular bell tower clasping outer corner to left with inscribed bell hung on parallel beams, 1954 (incorporated from former church). Screened entrance at foot of tower through flat-roofed porch large heavy timber doors. Sloping screen wall shielding short flight of steps running parallel with elevation and with late 20th century disabled ramp and stone Celtic cross. Further screen wall to right.

S ELEVATION: with bowed cloakroom to outer right linked to projecting aisle overhaning former moat, and with recessed wallhead of nave behind. Solitary window to outer left. Solitary buttress / flange from moat to wallhead, left of centre.

N ELEVATION: projecting aisle overhanging former moat, recessed wallhead of nave behind.

E ELEVATION: links to projecting hall / former church.

Nuralite Nuraply roofing (fibre-reinforced, bituminous waterproofing membrane) to flat roof hidden behind screening wallheads. Drainage from roof internal to wall structure.

INTERIOR: sunk nave with tiered seating to 3 sides encircling communion table on fourth side (Liturgical Movement), surrounded on 4 sides by columned or screened aisles/ passageway at higher level. Lit by largely hidden clerestorey formed with lowered central ceiling and square grid of 16 square recessed lights in cetnre of ceiling. Bowed cloakroom to SE lit by circular rooflights. Narthex with glazed roof within semicircular bell tower. Organ pipes in screened passageway with simple crucifix to screen, at back of communion table. Stained glass window, 1954, incorporated from former church. Heating pipes under tiered seating. En suite timber Font, Lectern and

Elders' chairs, with white Communion Table (each with common border motif, string of squares) and raised box-like white Pulpit behind.

HALL/ FORMER CHURCH:

Rectangular-plan former church to E of 1966 church (extended seamlessly to W, 1954) with projecting porches and offices, and with partly parallel range of corridor, offices and link to new church.

S ELEVATION: gabled porches off-centre and outer right, each with 2-leaf timber doors to W return, and additional S doors to off-centre porch (1954), with original inscribed stone dedicating 1937 foundation above. Intermediate bays and bays to left with tall narrow windows breaking eaves in swept dormers (3-4). W return of hall with vertical panel of window (former stained glass) with heavily corbelled cill, and louvred ventilator above. Link corridor and offices recessed to left with to left with door and window.

N ELEVATION: gabled projections to outer left (Youth Fellowship room) and to left of corridor / office link. Swept dormers to tall windows lighting former church to left (as above). Canted projection (session room) to centre of corridor / office link. Boiler house and wallhead stack to right. Small single and bipartite windows with stone mullions intervening.

Square-pane leaded glazing in sash and case, pivot and fixed windows. Lead lattice applied to mottled glass on occasion. Grey slate roof, stone ridges.

INTERIOR: main hall (former church) with pulpit and organ. Secondary hall with parquet / gymnasium flooring, steeply pitched ceiling supported by additional rafters at lower pitch, panelled dado to stage in shouldered proscenium arch, decorative plaster ceiling rose (masking ventilator). Dado and coombed ceiling to Youth Fellowship room. Also with Toilets, Vestry and Kitchen.

Statement of Special Interest

A striking, innovative and unique later 20th century church design following the principles of the Liturgical Movement in plan and conception, its enclosed form and sunken nave reportedly also inspired by the 'conventicle' church and the hillside hollows used by the covenanters in the 17th century. The limited space available on the site made such planning a welcome

contrast to the pitched roofs of the surrounding domestic properties. The 1954 bell is inscribed 'May it peal in the air, and call men to prayer'.

References

Bibliography

Frances MacLeod CRAIGSBANK: THE FIRST 50 YEARS (1987). Gifford, McWilliam & Walker EDINBURGH (1984), p588.

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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