Monday September 22nd 2025
Garvald Parish Church, East Lothian
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
A 700-year-old village church is to be given double glazing after its new owners said it would help secure its future.
Garvald Parish Church, in East Lothian, was built for the nuns of St Mary’s Abbey in Haddington in the 12th century and cared for by them for two centuries before the last abbess gifted it to the town’s presbytery.
Sold by the Church of Scotland to private owners, Nunraw Chapel Ltd applied for permission to replace the Gothic single glazed windows with slimline double glazing glass to improve its sustainability.
The application included images of the inside of the church windows with ice on them alongside a statement saying the change would “go some way to ensure it can continue to be used as a place of worship and serve the local and wider community”.
Planning officers approved the replacement of up to a dozen windows at the church alongside a new bathroom and drain improvements.
The village church is known for its outstanding array of gravestones dating back to the 17th century which reflect the high number of skilled stone masons who lived in the area and used to local red sandstone quarry.
It also has a rare mort house located to the rear of the building, where bodies were kept securely away from body snatchers while awaiting formal interment.
Planners said they received a single objection to the changes to the building from the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland (AHSS) who raised concerns about the impact of external pipework and drainage for the new toilet on the building.
They also said that introducing the double glazing for ‘virtually all’ the windows would only be acceptable “if no important historic glass is lost”.
In a report on the proposals, planning officers said: “The double glazing to be installed within them would be 10mm thick. Other than on very close scrutiny the proposed double glazing would not appear obviously different from the single glazed panes to which they would replace.
“Such alterations to them would not have a significant visual impact on, and thus would not be harmful to, the special architectural or historic interest of the church, a listed building, or its setting. They would not be harmful to the character and appearance of this part of the Garvald Conservation Area.”
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