Sites and Monument Record: McLaren Jubilee Memorial Church (Stenhouse Parish Church) (SMR 130)
Description
In 1897 work began on a new parish church at the E end of Larbert Parish where the population had increased considerably in numbers. The church was called the McLaren memorial Church in celebration of the minister. At the time it was surrounded by fields. The architect chosen was John Burnet and the style is Early Gothic with Romanesque features. The red Dumfries sandstone and rich detailing gives the building a warm character.
The long line of the nave fronts Church St, with the a short square tower at the west end and the chancel at the east. The hall and vestry with their wide swept red-tiled roof stretch out at right angles to the chancel on the south. These were fronted on the west by a covered cloister to link to the manse, which was only built some years later. The massive tower, with its abrupt pyramid tile roof containing diminutive lucarnes, fills up the west end of the nave. It has a battered base, large paired arched louvred belfry lights, and a corbelled parapet with angle bartizans. The west face has a large window recessed under an arch, comprising 2 lower cusped lights with a single round-arched one above, linked by a "tree of life" panel containing the dedication and date. From the tower projects the main entrance porch with timber framing set on dwarf walls and a sweeping barge-boarded gable, forming a pleasing termination to the plain side elevation of the church. It groups with the hall buildings to form a court or garden. The nave is 110 ft long by 25 ft wide, the aisle 61 ft by 21 ft, the chancel 25 ft by 23 ft. It is covered by a barrel roof with cusped arched trusses. The floor at the end of the nave is raised for the communion table, pulpit and choir stalls. This end of the church has richer ornamentation of the roof woodwork and window stones, but beyond that nothing to break the line of the nave. At the division is the pulpit, a red sandstone plinth capped with white marble set against the north wall, carved with the Lamb of God and large crosses. The nave is divided from the aisle and chancel aisle by a series of six bays of simple arches. At the lower end of the nave, within the walls of the tower, a gallery seats 84. It is entered by a wheeling stone stair from the vestibule that forms a semi-octagonal turret which clasps the SW corner of the tower. There are three sets of 2-light windows in this stair turret, each set into one side and stepped up from one another. The hall accommodates 200 and measures 80 ft by 25 ft. It is divided from the chancel by a stone arch with a folding screen. It can also be entered from the garden by the closed corridor connecting the church with the vestry and session house. The whole is built of red rubble with red corncockle freestone dressings and grey roughcast walls. The windows on the north side of the church are tall 2-lights, contrasting with the shorter leaded 3-lights on the south.
Internally the walls are of plaster leaving broad dressed red sandstone margins - the windows, columns, arches, and doors being finished in stone. There are numerous elaborate carvings on the corbels and borders, with inscriptions set into the stone besides the windows. The roof, which is of open timber work, is emphasised at the chancel entrance by an enriched couple, the chancel ceiling being lined for decorative painter work.
See also Stenhouse Manse.
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