Glencorse Parish Church

The church was recorded on 2nd September 2021 prior to the final closure of the church and the dissolution of the parish of Glencorse as the Midlothian Presbytery restructures worship in Penicuik. The church was designed by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson in 1883. A perspective of the proposed design by him was hung in the vestry (DP371440), The saddle-back tower was added by the same architect, to the original design in 1887. This is believed to be the earliest example of a saddleback roofed tower by Anderson.

The ‘ecclesiologically’ correct design consists of a chancel to the east, a three-bay nave with two-bay transept to the north and a three-bay aisle to the south. At the west end of the nave is the entrance lobby with a raked gallery above. The entrances were originally from either side to the north and south with a central projecting staircase. The vestry is in the base of the tower sited to the southeast in the re-entrant angle between the chancel and the south aisle.

The church is built of stugged sandstone with paler ashlar dressings under a slate roof. The interior is lined in brick with sandstone dressings including the arcades. The builders were J and J Turner of Juniper Green with Basil Slater as the Clerk of Works. The original estimated cost was £2,700.

The original design as illustrated in the perspective (DP371440) was reversed at the request of the minister Rev William Baillie Strong transferring the chancel, or communion table recess as it was referred to at the time, from the west end to the east end. This created an early example of a new build Church of Scotland church being ’correctly’ orientated in the pre-reformation tradition with the chancel at the east end. The ground floor of the tower containing the vestry was built in the first phase with the upper stages being completed four years later. The only alteration in the reversal of the plan was that the position of the tower was moved. It remained on the south side of the building moving from the west to the east. The reversal of the plan explains the prominence of the vestry door on the approach rather than the entrance doors.

The font was found in the floor of the Old Kirk during renovations in 1811 and is thought to have originally come from the Chapel of St Katherine, which was flooded during the creation of the Glencorse Reservoir. The Organ is by Norman and Beard for Paterson & Sons ‘The Norvic Organ’ The pews and pulpit are original and were designed by Robert Rowand Anderson.

Stained Glass: In the South Aisle the east window is by Douglas Strachan 1918 St Patrick in memory of Captain Patrick Fraser Tytler. South Aisle centre window is by Moore of London 1895. Christ Blessing the Children in memory of Harry Whitelaw Francis. South Aisle west window is c.1907 in memory of Hugh Sommerville of Dalmore and his wife Bridget Russell Brown. South aisle west wall lancet window is in memory of Rev. Donald Begbie. In the North Transept the west window is in memory of Alexander Coutts Trotter of Bush & Ryden c.1913.

MEMORIALS: South Aisle east of East Window WWI Grave marker cross for Captain Patrick Fraser Tytler d. 1916. South Aisle west of east window Compton Pottery plaque in memory of Charles William Fraser Tytler 1904. (Mary Watts nee Fraser Tytler, the founder of Compton Pottery was a relation.) North Transept east wall a large memorial plaque to Rt Hon John Inglis of Glencorse (Lord Glencorse) 1891.