Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Description

Peter Sinclair, 1931. T-plan simple late Scots Gothic style church, dated 1931 on foundation stone at right angle buttress, with slightly earlier original church, now hall to rear. Red sandstone front elevation and to cill level at west elevation, buttresses, belltower and dressings, pink reconstituted stone to cill level at east elevation, pebbledash elsewhere. Hall is mostly pebbledash with red sandstone porch and dressings. Slate roof with diminishing courses and terracotta ridge tiles, ashlar skews. Rectangular pane leaded glazing with diffused glass. Tudor arched windows.

Front south elevation: 5-bay, Tudor arched door to centre with hoodmould in advanced panel with merlins at angles, flanked by window to left and right, buttresses, further windows and angle buttresses; string course; 5-light window with hoodmould at upper level; crenellated skew ends; simple inscribed decoration at gable.

West elevation: Church to right: crenellated semi-octagonal bell tower to left with door and 2 square-headed openings to ground floor, 3 louvred openings above; gabled transept to right with tripartite window and door to left and right returns; 5 buttressed bays to far right with 3 bipartite windows and 1 single window. Hall (former church) to left linked by single bay with window; 3-bay single storey porch advanced at centre with door flanked by windows, angle dies and central pediment; 4-light window to upper level of gable, angle buttresses, crenellated skew ends.

East elevation: similar to west elevation in mirror image, but minus the belltower. Hall has canted bay to centre (originally apse), with later lean-to at ground floor.

North elevation: 4 buttressed bays, 3 with single windows, door to left, lean-to to far left.

Interior: Simple. Narthex with dado and 2 doors leading to nave; wide comb ceiling with main structural supports exposed; Tudor arch doors and facings, ribbed dado, panelled chancel area with reredos advanced at centre of east wall. Pews removed. Hall: elliptical roof with plain ribs rising from moulded corbels.

Boundary walls, piers, gatepiers and gates: low harled brick built walls with stone coping, 2 rectangular section ashlar gatepiers with chamfered copes to front elevation, 2 sets of similar piers to west elevation, 1 set to north elevation; 8 other similar single piers; set of decorative metal gates to north and west elevation; railings removed.

Statement of Special Interest

The former Denbeath Parish Church is prominently situated on a corner site in an area of Denbeath developed by the Wemyss Coal Company. This new settlement was required because the original coastal settlement of Links of Denbeath between Buckhaven and Methil was gradually subsumed into the Company's expanding Wellesley colliery from 1906. Some housing was designed by the Wemyss estate architect Alexander Todd in a version of the Fife vernacular that may be termed the 'Wemyss Style', and prominent at East Wemyss, Coaltown of Wemyss and West Wemyss. Although a relatively late part of the development, the former Parish Church is one of the key buildings in the area, similar in cultural importance to the nearby Primary School in Barncraig Street (G C Campbell, 1906-7) and Miners' Welfare Institute in Den Walk (Alexander Stewart Todd, 1924). The church's style reflects the historicist ethos introduced by Todd.

References

Bibliography

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.