Crichton Memorial Church, Dumfries
Crichton Memorial Church, Dumfries
Crichton Memorial Church is a Category A cathedral-scale church on the Crichton Estate, Bankend Road, Dumfries, designed by Sydney Mitchell and Wilson and built in 1890–97 as a memorial church for Crichton Royal Hospital.
- Location
- Dumfries, Dumfries & Galloway
- Country
- Scotland
- County
- Dumfries & Galloway
- City / town
- Dumfries
- Address
- Bankend Road, Dumfries, Dumfries & Galloway, DG1 4ZZ
- Postcode
- DG1 4ZZ
- Built
- 1890–97
- Architect
- Sydney Mitchell and Wilson
- Denomination
- Independent
- Grade
- Category A
- Style
- Gothic, after late 13th-century sources
- Materials
- Snecked bull-faced red Locharbriggs ashlar; pink Thornhill sandstone interior; slate roofs
- Grid reference
- NX 982 740
- Opening hours
- Open by arrangement.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby
Overview
Historic Environment Scotland lists a large, richly detailed church with a square tower over the crossing, Gothic in manner after late-thirteenth-century sources. It was built as a memorial to the hospital’s founders and to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the institution established through the gift of Elizabeth Crichton of Friar’s Carse. The church opened on 15 October 1897. The exterior is snecked, bull-faced red ashlar from Locharbriggs, with pointed dressings, gabletted buttresses and crenellated parapets. A mortuary chapel sits below the west end of the nave; the outer door is in a long Galilee. Carved stonework is by William Vickers of Glasgow.
The plan has an aisled seven-bay nave, chancel, transepts and a crossing tower rising one stage above the main roof, about 123 feet high. The interior uses pink sandstone from Thornhill, oak roofs with carved bosses, and marble-tiled floors. Furnishings include a richly carved oak organ case (Lewis organ, 1902), pulpit and choir stalls, and a bronze lectern of 1907. Stained glass is by Oscar Paterson of Glasgow; listing descriptions also note leaded clear glass by the Glass Stainers Company, Glasgow. The church is used ecumenically and stands in the parkland of the Crichton Estate.