The gateway to the churchyard (Fig. [1606]) is a simple but pleasing specimen of the early Scottish Renaissance, similar in style to the belfry.
WALSTON CHURCH, Lanarkshire.
The parish church of Walston stands on a height overlooking the vale of the river Medwin, about two miles west from Dolphinton. Till near the end of the thirteenth century the Church of Walston was a lay rectory in the gift of the Lord of the Manor. It is specially referred to in an award of 1293.[261] The edifice stands in an ancient churchyard, and not far from what was formerly a mansion known as the “Place of Walston.”
Fig. 1607.—Walston Church. Plan.
The existing church (Fig. [1607]) stands north and south, and is a long single chamber 64 feet 6 inches in length and 16 feet in width internally. A portion has been cut off the north end to form a vestry. The original church is believed to have stood east and west. At the south end a portion of the existing structure is evidently, from its workmanship, of a different period from the remainder. The ashlar work of which it is built is seen to stop beyond the first window from the south (Fig. [1608]). This was doubtless the wing or transept erected by Robert Baillie of Walston, in 1650, as a burial-place for his family. The remainder of the church was rebuilt in its new position in continuation of the south wing by the Rev. Patrick Molleson, minister (born 1746, died 1825), who has placed the letters M. P. M. and the date 1789 on the north gable.
Fig. 1608.—Walston Church. View from South-West.
The south wing is the only part worthy of notice. The window shows the feeling for the Gothic revival of the seventeenth century. In the panel over it is the inscription “Give God the onlie honour and glory.
