Description

1721 with possible earlier fabric, incorporating 12th century Norman doorway. Renovated 1828 and circa 1880. 4-bay, rectangular-plan church with pointed-arched windows to sides and doorways to gable ends with prominent gabled stone bellcote and sited within rare circular graveyard enclosure. Stone cross to S gable apex. Carved WWI Memorial within blocked 12th century doorway with chevron carved voussoirs. Round-arched, gabled stone bellcote with dentilled eaves and round-arched canopy on recessed pillars.

Margined, diamond-pane leaded windows with coloured glazing. Slate roof with circular ridge ventilators, ashlar coped skews. Cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative hoppers.

INTERIOR: good, plain-rendered, interior decorative scheme with timber-panelled balcony to E end on slender cast-iron columns and later timber-panelled pulpit to W. Good timber-boarded, combed ceiling with decorative cast-iron ventilator grilles. Brass light fittings and hinged ventilators hoods to side walls. Panelled pointed arch doors. 'Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness' painted in decorative scroll over pulpit. Large classical wall monument to Lady Ross Baillie.

GRAVEYARD; BOUNDARY WALLS AND HEADSTONES: rare, circular-plan rubble walls with curved cappings retain higher ground to interior of graveyard. Mostly 19th century headstones, some good examples of 18th century headstones, with some possibly even earlier examples.

Statement of Interest

Lamington Church is a good example of a small Post-Reformation rectangular church surviving in its original plan form and prominently sited within a rare raised circular graveyard with some early headstone examples. The present church is believed to have been on the site since 1721 and incorporates a Norman arch from an earlier building on the site. The present Kirk was dedicated to St. Ninian and renovated at a cost of £300 for both the separate Wandel and Lamington Parishes in 1828 on the borderline between the two. Prior to renovation the circular arched doorway to the N had been the main entrance. The 1828 works were extensive, raising the height of the building, introducing a door at each end for each parish with wrap around external stairs to corresponding internal balconies at each end to face eachother and a pulpit with canopy to the S side. The larger pointed arch windows were introduced at this time. Circa 1880, under direction of Lord Lamington, the W balcony was removed and the pulpit placed at this end at which time the small 4-pane window to the S elevation was added. The external stairs were also removed at this time.

The session records suggest the bell was put up by the Laird of Lamington and was dated 1647 made by Joannes Monteith. The belfry was rebuilt in 1880 works, the Monteith bell is now hanging in the Moat Park Museum in Biggar and the existing bell dates from 1929. Noted as 'St Ninians Parish Church with 300 sittings, a fine Norman archway and a bell dated 1647' in Groome's Gazetteer.

The circular surrounding graveyard is a rare and unusual plan form and incorporates a fine selection of earlier stones from as early as 18th century and include a cast-iron tomb to the Rev. Charles Hore (d. 1862) with cast iron railings.

Currently used as a store facility for Biggar Museums Trust (2009)

List Description revised at resurvey (2010).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17853574

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)