Torphichen Preceptory
Coordinates: 55°56′05″N 3°39′09″W / 55.93464°N 3.6524°W Torphichen Preceptory, is a church in the village of Torphichen, West Lothian, Scotland. It comprises the remains of the preceptory (headquarters) of the Knights Hospitaller of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in Scotland. The placename may be Gaelic in origin, e.g., "Tóir Féichín" (the boundary/sanctuary of St Féichín) or Brythonic, e.g., modern Welsh "tref fechan" (little town).
The Preceptory was built in the 1140s around an existing church, possibly of early Christian origin. During the 13th Century the Preceptory was expanded, and the buildings which still stand were first erected. The complex included a cruciform church, with a nave, central tower, transepts and choir, whose tower and transepts remain, and a number of domestic buildings including a hospital. The church was extended again in the 15th Century, and a cloister completed, of which only the foundations remain. Very unusually, this was situated on the north side of the church (a feature seen elsewhere in Scotland only at Melrose Abbey).
After the Reformation, the nave of the Preceptory church was converted for use as the parish kirk, with the rest of the buildings falliing into disrepair. Nevertheless, the surviving crossing of the church (below the central tower) retains some of the best-preserved late 12th-early 13th century masonry in Scotland, with refined architectural detail. In 1756 the nave and domestic buildings were demolished, and a new T-plan kirk built. The kirk is furnished with early 19th Century box pews and galleries. The remnants of the Preceptory were used as a courthouse for a number of years. The central tower was re-roofed in 1947 and is now in the care of Historic Scotland (open in summer; entrance charge).
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