AC7 Building Description Buccleuch and Greyfriars Free Church of Scotland, W Crosscauseway, Edinburgh Mohd Adnan Dollah s1359491

Figure 1 shows the stained glass panel at the back of the church

BACKGROUND Buccleuch and Greyfriar Free Church is classified as Presbyterian and Reformed Church. It is governed in a democratic way that its minister elder and deacon are chosen by the members of congregations. The church was built in 1856 until 1861 by the architectural firm, Hays of Liverpool and construct by Thomas Bonnar, the key contractor and John Hew Robb, the joiner. The building cost about 5000 to its completion. However, when the church was opened to public in 1856, the spire was not completed at that period. The spire was complete later in December 1861. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland later on listed the building as class B.

DESCRIPTION Given with dimension of 88 feet long and 44 feet wide with a complete spire from the ground to the pinnacle of 174 feet high, the building laid at the intersection of West Crosscauseway Road, Chapel Street and Buccleuch Street. The site boundary is in the shape of trapezium while the building has a rectangular plan with the spire standing strong at the front of the building. The building can be divided into three main spaces; entrance, hall and main auditorium. The design of the church is mainly based in Gothic style, from its spire to the main building. This can be seen by the large stained glass window and hammerhead beam roof, which is typical for Gothic architecture.

The front door, situated at the spire of the church consists of architraves, which the arches rippled inward to the door panel. The details of the architrave itself consist of ionic columns that attached to the architraves. Inside the door is a marble and granite memorial tablet to the reverend during the period of 1809 to 1855.

At the back of the church, the stained glass window is still intact. The motives of the stained glass window consist of the recurring symbol of triquetra, In addition to the repetitive triquetra, most of the windows and lights comes with a pattern that called trifoil. The stained glass from the back of the church was replaced completely in 1955 from the central panel in the lower section. Since most of the windows and lights in the church are still in the original from, a number of defective units was replaced due to vandalism and decay. Figure 2 shows the windows with detailing

The Buccleuch & Greyfriars Free Church of Scotland features hammerhead beams as the mains of structural supports to the building. The hammerheads beam is still intact until today and all the woodwork in the building; such as in the main auditorium was painted to the same color as the color of the hammerhead beams.

LIST OF REFERENCES RCHAMS Catalogue NBR 301A1/19, Retrieved on 29th October 2013 Building Description handout : Diane Watters Graham Hardy, Doors Open Day, Buccleuch Free Church p 4-9 Buccleuch Free Church of Scotland n.d http://www.buccleuchfreechurch.co.uk/about/history.html Accessed on 29th October 2013