stirling-1963-vol-1/05_196

Transcription

No. 156 -- ECCLESIASTICAL MONUMENTS -- No. 157
heritors, who refers to it in a letter as "a most heavy
tasteless pile" and a "cumbrous and inelegant edifice". ¹
Ultimately both the Baird plans and the earlier Hamilton
plans were passed over in favour of another scheme by
the latter architect.
The new building stands conspicuously on rising
ground NE. of the main street of Lennoxtown. It is a
striking Gothic building (Pl. 39 C) carried out in yellowish-
grey freestone ashlar from Bishopbriggs. ² It consists of a
nave oriented from SW. to NE., with a tower at the SW.
end; a small chancel with vestry accommodation has
recently been added to the NE. end, replacing a shallow
original extension part of which still remains in the N.
re-entrant angle.
The nave measures 95 ft. by 43 ft. 4 in. externally;
the tower, which is square on plan, projects 20 ft., ³ and
the chancel 22 ft. 6 in. The SE. elevation is illustrated
in Pl. 39 C; this shows the five tall window-openings that
light the nave, and the side doorway, with a similar but
shorter window above it, at the SW. end serving the
vestibule. The two-light window-openings, which have
hood-moulds with returned ends, are divided by a blind
belt at the height of the gallery. The vestibule doorway
has a wide pointed arch with Gothic decoration in the
spandrels. The SW. bay, which contains the vestibule, is
divided from the rest by a buttress; at the S. corner there
rises a thin octagonal turret, buttressed on SE. and SW.;
and at the E. corner there is an angle-buttress, The wall-
head finishes in a moulded cornice and a plain parapet.
The NW. elevation is identical.
The SW. end is dominated by the tower, which
comprises four stages. This is flanked by tall windows
generally similar to those just described, but with their
lower lights blind, and is thrown into prominence by
the two octagonal turrets at the W. and S. corners of the
main building. The first stage contains the main door
opening into the porch; this has a wide pointed arch set
in a moulded recess with Gothic decoration in the
spandrels and a returned hood-mould and crenellated
ornament above. In each of the other walls there is a
single lancet-window. The second stage, which is
occupied by the session-room, has on each of its outer
faces a large pointed window-opening, the lower part
of which is divided into two lights by plain tracery while
the upper part is blind. The third stage, the ringing-
chamber, shows three sets of triple lancets with hood-
moulds ending in floriated stops, and above each set a
clock-face within a floriated frame. In the fourth stage,
the bell-chamber, there are on each face two narrow,
louvred lancet-windows with hood-moulds ending in
floriated-stops; between these, and at the corners, are
square buttresses which rise high above the crenellated
parapet and finish with double cornices.
The NE. gable is now largely masked by the later
chancel, with its vestry, choir-room, etc. It shows a
single lancet-window above the chancel roof and ends
in plain tabling with two chimneys at the gable-head.
The porch, which is vaulted, leads into the vestibule,
from which access is obtained to the body of the church
by two doors and to the gallery-landing by two flights of
stairs. The two aisles slope slightly downwards between
enclosed pews of painted pine, arranged to face a pulpit
at the NE. end. The gallery, which is entered from the
landing, is supported on delicate pillars of fluted metal.
The gallery-landing also leads to the session-room in the
tower, a vaulted room with a fireplace, and by a spiral
stair to the ringing-chamber above.

FONT. The font from the old church (No. 157) was
placed, for preservation, in the porch about 1876. ⁴ It is
an octagonal block of freestone with a slight indentation
on one side, presumably intended to allow it to be fitted
against a pillar, and a wide lip splayed out from the
lower portion (Pl. 39 B). It measures 2 ft. 2 in. in diameter
by 1 ft. 4 in. in height, while the bowl, which is unusually
deep for its width, measures 1 ft. 2 in. both in diameter
and in depth to the top of the drainage aperture. The
upper surface and lip have been smoothed, but the lower
parts are only roughly dressed.

628780 -- NS 67 NW ("Church") -- 12 August 1953

157. Old Parish Church and Graveyard, Campsie.
The old parish church stands in its graveyard at the
Clachan of Campsie. It, or its predecessor, was dedicated
to St. Machan a disciple of St. Cadoc, who was buried
at Campsie. ⁵ A church of Campsie was mentioned among
the prebendal churches of Glasgow in a bull of 1216. ⁶ It
was abandoned in 1828, when the new parish church
(No. 156) was built in Lennoxtown, and it is now reduced
to a fragment consisting only of the W. gable, part of the
N. wall, and the footings of part of the S. wall. Its
original length is uncertain, but may have been about
77 ft.; its breadth is 26 ft. 8 in. over walls 3 ft. 10 in.
thick. The W. gable, which is 3 ft. 8 in. thick is built of
large squared rubble brought to courses and has in the
centre a doorway at ground level with a gallery entrance
immediately above it, both square-headed and heavily
chamfered at the arrises. Between them there runs an
intake-course, and the gable is finished with crow-steps
and is topped by the square base of a bell-cote, now
vanished. The style suggests a date in the 17th century;
but it is on record that the gable was taken down and
rebuilt at some unstated time, ⁷ and this record seems to
be corroborated by the break appearing in the masonry
where the N. wall joins the gable. The N. wall is reduced
to a greatest height of about 6 ft. 10 in. and is 29 ft. 5 in.
in length; its end is original and has been plastered, and
probably marks one side of the opening of a central N.
aisle such as is frequently seen in churches of this type

1 Ibid., 112.
2 Ibid.
3 The foregoing measurements ignore the projection of
buttresses.
4 P.S.A.S., xxi (1886-7), 362; illustration p. 364.
5 Mackinlay, J. M., Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland;
Non-scriptural Dedications, 197; Origines, i, 44.
6 Origines, loc. cit.
7 Cameron, J., The Parish of Campsie, 62.

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