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

GALA PARK, ST AIDANS CHURCH (FORMER UNITED PRESBYTERIAN), CHURCH HALL AND BOUNDARY WALLSLB50686

Status: Removed

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Date Added
14/11/2006
Date Removed:
10/01/2024
Local Authority
Scottish Borders
Planning Authority
Scottish Borders
Burgh
Galashiels
NGR
NT 49116 36054
Coordinates
349116, 636054

Removal Reason

This building has been demolished.

Description

R Thornton Shiells and Thomson, 1879-80. Church hall by Lorimer and Matthew, circa 1939. Rectangular-plan, Middle Pointed Gothic church with prominent tower and octagonal spire to E corner and integral hall to S corner of plan. 3 bays to centre (N elevation) with quatrefoil rose window in hoodmoulded pointed arch over equilateral arched main doorway with further pitched and carved hoodmould above flanked by pointed lancet windows and smaller doors to outer bays. 2-light quatrefoil plate tracery and lower pointed tripartite lancet windows to sides; rose window to S gable. Square-plan 4-stage tower with attached single storey piended bell ringers chamber; shouldered buttresses; slender pointed arcades to louvres and windows at 3rd and 4th stages; squared and gablet pointed pinnacles to base of octagonal stone spire. Small hall to SE with later linking section to 1939 halls. Course rubble whinstone; blonde sandstone quoins and margins. Moulded string courses.

Tinted glass windows; timber boarded doors with decorative cast-iron brackets; pitched slate roof with triangular ventilators; terracotta ridge tiles; stone skews; cast-iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: fine original decorative scheme and symmetrical plan-form in place. Curved timber gallery on cast-iron columns; barrel-vaulted timber Jacobean panelled roof with hammer beams on carved stone corbels to sides; curved yellow pine pews. Equilateral arch to chancel with ornate stone columns with floral capitals and organ gallery. Small narthex with decorative timber entrance lobby, war memorials and symmetrical curved stone stairs with barley-twist cast-iron balusters to main gallery. Rear corridor leading to hall, meeting rooms and vestry with timber fire surrounds; stairs to organ gallery and link to later hall.

HALL: 5-bay rectangular-plan steeply pitched roofed hall with lower ancillary rooms linking to church at NE corner. Rendered. Horizontal timber multi-pane windows; slate roofs; rendered gable stacks. Hall interior: timber floors, boarded to dado height, glazed timber three panel doors.

BOUNDARY WALLS: low rubble walls with angled copes and truncated gatepillars to NE. Taller rubble walls with rounded copes to SE, SW and NE.

Statement of Special Interest

Ecclesiastical building in use as such. St Aidans Church is a good example of an unaltered later 19th century gothic church with a finely detailed interior and fine stone detailing particularly evident in the tower and spire which stand as a prominent landmark over the centre of the town.

The church was built by the Edinburgh firm of Thornton Shiells and Thomson, a large domestic practice, as the South United Presbyterian Church at a cost of £5000. The designs were exhibited twice at the Royal Academy (1880 and 1885). St Aidans is thought to have been designed by Robert Thornton Shiells (1833-1902), primarily a church architect, who trained under David Bryce. Shiells is known to have designed a good number of churches for the United Presbyterian Church, of which St. Aidans is seen as a fine example.

The church was consecrated in August 1880 and has remained in ecclesiastical use since then. It was renamed St Aidan's in 1981.

The later halls were requisitioned by the military for use as a canteen during the war.

References

Bibliography

Grooms Gazetteer 1883 (p66). R Hall, The History of Galashiels (1898) (p266). Gala through the years. 2nd edition ORDNANCE SURVEY map (1897). K Cruft, Buildings of Scotland, Borders (2006) p298. http://www.codexgeo.co.uk/dsa/ (Dictionary of Scottish Architects).

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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Printed: 28/03/2024 20:05