Newton, Old Parish Church Of St Mary

Heritage listing

Date Added 09/11/1992 Type Ecclesiastical: church; tower, Secular: enclosure; field system Local Authority Midlothian Parish Newton NGR NT 33357 69017 Coordinates 333357, 669017 — The monument consists of the remains of the 17th century tower of Old Newton Kirk also called St Mary's, its surrounding graveyard which is situated within a group of three contiguous sub rectangular enclosures of medieval date, and an adjacent rig and furrow field system. The enclosures and field system are only visible in aerial photographs. The roofless church tower (height c.10.5m) is built of rough cast rubble with ashlar dressings. It has had five storeys with a crenellated parapet. The upper storeys above the horizontal string course set at third floor level appear to have been rebuilt shortly after 1915. The tower is oblong on plan, measuring 5.1m N-S by 4.8m E-W. The rest of the gabled church is no longer extant. It appears to have been constructed at a subsequent date to the tower and would have been built against its N wall. The entrance from the N wall of the tower to the body of the church has been blocked up, other blocked entrances are in the N and W walls on the first floor. In the S wall of the tower is a semi-circular headed doorway and a small window in the E wall. The wooded burial ground has been fenced off. The rectangular area measures 28m NW by 18.5m NE. In it are three eighteenth century table tombs. The church and burial ground occupy the NE end of a large sub rectangular enclosure which is contiguous with two smaller enclosures of similar shape. In the NE enclosure there are a group of post holes which indicate the position of at least one rectangular building. The area of these enclosures which appear as crop marks is 140m NW by 80m NE. To the NW of the enclosures i

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.