Another Visit to West Linton

[endlessrarities]

More from West Linton now, and tonight's post is the first of several with a distinctly religious twist.

This isn't the parish church, but it's a very pleasant little church nonetheless, built in the eighteenth century and in use as such until the 1950s.  It's tucked away in a quiet part of the village and has now been converted into a private residence:-

I particularly like the Celtic knotwork motif on the front gable, just below the bell-cote...

A walk through the village revealed more carved stones in addition to the Gifford sculptures I featured yesterday.  Another house located just off the main street revealed another carving which shed further light on the village's history:-

Here's a close-up of the carving:-
 

It is, of course, Saint Andrew, Scotland's Patron Saint.  The carving appears to predate the nineteenth century building in which it now sits, which suggests that it originated elsewhere. 

When I stumbled across this carving, I deduced that West Linton's current church had replaced an earlier structure dedicated to Saint Andrew, and that this carving was a survivor from the early church.  I hadn't visited the church at this point: needless to say, I wasn't surprised when I discovered that West Linton's parish church is indeed a nineteenth century structure which occupies the site of an earlier predecessor. 

And the patron saint of the modern church?

Saint Andrew...    Who else?