NEWTONGRANGE CHURCH HALL

Date 14 February 2023

Event ID 1151246

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Architecture Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1151246

Newtongrange Church Hall was recorded by the Threatened Building Survey on 10th January 2023. The survey was prompted by the proposed demolition of the hall and the development of the site for housing (Midlothian Planning application 21/00701/PPP).

The hall was built in 1935 as the new Newtongrange Parish Church replacing the earlier former United Free Church, now the Masonic Lodge, on Newbattle Road (Canmore ID 290815). The harled and slate roofed church was a simple rectangle with a vaulted main sanctuary with windows on either side. The stage and ancillary rooms to the north all appear original. It was built as a hall church and as part of the Church of Scotland Extension Scheme. No architect has been identified but the elegant simple detailing and proportions suggests a competent practitioner.

A Murray Hardie added the new church to the west in 1939 (see Canmore ID 174667) and the hall church became the church hall. A suite of vestries and service rooms linked the new church to the halls. In c.1949 a smaller hall was added to the east of the main hall, a drawing for which survives in the Dick Peddie & McKay Collection DPM 1950/88/1(see DP045629). This resulted in the blocking of the original east windows of the hall except one which became the serving hatch to the kitchen. The well-equipped suite of halls remained in regular use until the Covid Pandemic began in 2020 and the reorganisation of the parish, including the sale of Newbattle Church (Canmore ID 53425), has meant that they are now no longer required. It is proposed to adapt the adjacent parish church to accommodate both church and hall functions in effect creating a new hall church.