Corstorphine Old Parish Church

Last updated

Corstorphine Old Parish Church
Corstorphine Parish Church
Corstorphine Parish Kirk - geograph.org.uk - 1407561.jpg
Corstorphine Old Parish Church
55°56′29″N3°16′55″W / 55.94139°N 3.28194°W / 55.94139; -3.28194
LocationDower House, Corstorphine High Street, Corstorphine
Country Scotland [1]
Denomination Church of Scotland
Previous denomination Roman Catholic
Website www.corstorphineoldparish.org.uk
History
Former name(s)St John's Collegiate Church [2]
Founded 15th century [1] [2]
Founder(s) Sir Adam Forrester and Sir John Forrester [1]
Dedication John the Baptist
Architecture
Heritage designation Historic Environment Scotland [2] [3]
DesignatedDecember 14, 1970 [3]
Architect(s)
Architectural type Gothic
Specifications
Number of floorsOne
Number of spires One
Administration
Presbytery Edinburgh
Parish Edinburgh
Clergy
Minister(s) Rev Moira McDonald
Stained glass window (south window) Corstorphine Parish Church Stained glass window (south window) Corstorphine Parish Church.jpg
Stained glass window (south window) Corstorphine Parish Church

Corstorphine Old Parish Church, formerly St. John's Collegiate Church, is at the old centre of Corstorphine, [1] [2] a village incorporated to the west area of Edinburgh. Built in the 15th century, in the churchyard of a 12th-century or earlier chapel, [1] [2] the former collegiate church was listed category A by Historic Scotland on December 14, 1970. [3]

Contents

History

King David I granted the chapel at Corstophine to Holyrood Abbey in 1128. Before that, it was a satellite chapel of St Cuthbert's Church. By 1158, it had become a church, with altars to Saint Anne and the Holy Trinity. [2]

Effigy of Sir John Forrester Sir John Forrester effigy, Corstorphine Kirk.jpg
Effigy of Sir John Forrester

A burial chapel was added to the church in 1404 by Sir Adam Forrester, [1] [3] who died by 1405. The church was then dedicated to John the Baptist. The church was elevated to a collegiate church by his son Sir John Forrester in 1429. [4]

The foundation of the current church (on the inner eastmost wall) says the church was built in 1429 in the same churchyard as the earlier parish church, and was completed by 1437. [1] The sandstone church was built with a tower and stone, octagonal spire, rectangular chancel, and a nave with transepts. [3] [2] This included the absorption of earlier Gothic features from the previous building and the erection of the characteristic barrel vaults, which may have concluded by 1436.[ citation needed ]

The nave of the church showing the concrete vaults, which replaced the original stone vaults in 1905 Corstorphine parish church.jpg
The nave of the church showing the concrete vaults, which replaced the original stone vaults in 1905

The remodeling of the more sophisticated, pre-existing vault like the one in the south transept shows a structurally slightly arbitrary pattern of two semi-quadripartite arrangement of ribs rising from a springing point at the centre of the bays. [5]

In 1548, Thomas Marjoribanks, son of Thomas Marjoribanks, burgess in Edinburgh, replaced Robert Marjoribanks (probably his uncle) upon the occasion of Robert's death, as prepend (vicar) of Corstorphine Kirk and continued through the Reformation until 1567. Rev Andrew Forrester became minister in 1590. [6]

Gogar was added to the parish in 1599. [7]

In 1634, the collegiate church was dissolved and in 1646 the building became the parish church. At that time the 12th-century church was razed and a new aisle was added to the collegiate fabric. [2] [8] Stones from the former church were used to built the porch. [3] In 1828, a restoration by architect William Burn [3] resulted in a two-storey sacristy, renovation of the nave, removal of a 17th-century aisle, and building of a new aisle and transept. [2]

The east choir and the adjacent sacristy are the only original roofs that survived and the vaults of the nave and aisle were re-made in precast concrete ribbed panels during the restoration from 1903 to 1905 by George Henderson. [9]

The church has Scottish heraldic panels and pre-Reformation relics. James Ballantine supplied the Victorian stained glass and Gordon Webster and Nathaniel Bryson supplied the 20th-century windows. Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper was the inspiration for the heads on the carved corbels made by William Birnie Rhind. [1] On the grounds are a war memorial, vault and gatehouse, surrounded by a boundary wall and cast iron gates. [3]

The ancient stone font, in the south transept, was brought from Gogar church in 1955.

In 1913 a chapel of ease was built to the north-west: St Anne's on St John's Road by Peter MacGregor Chalmers. [10]

Stained Glass

The church includes several windows by the Bannantine Brothers, two by Nythaniel Bryson and one by Douglas Strachan.

Also of note is the memorial window to the mother (Jessie Chrystal Finlayson) and father (John Macmillan) of women's rights campaigner Jessie Chrystal Macmillan. Jessie Chrystal Macmillan, known as Chrystal shared the same name as her mother Jessie Chrystal Finlayson and she never married.


Former Ministers

see [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corstorphine</span> Village in Scotland

Corstorphine is an area of the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh. Formerly a separate village and parish to the west of Edinburgh, it is now a suburb of the city, having been formally incorporated into it in 1920.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canongate Kirk</span> Church in Edinburgh, Scotland

The Kirk of the Canongate, or Canongate Kirk, serves the Parish of Canongate in Edinburgh's Old Town, in Scotland. It is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. The parish includes the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Scottish Parliament. It is also the parish church of Edinburgh Castle, even though the castle is detached from the rest of the parish. The wedding of Zara Phillips, the Queen's granddaughter, and former England rugby captain Mike Tindall took place at the church on 30 July 2011. The late Queen Elizabeth II used to attend services in the church on some of her frequent visits to Edinburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rathven</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Rathven is an ecclesiastical parish, village and former civil parish in the historic county of Banff, now in Moray, Scotland. The civil parish was last used as a census subdivision in 2001 when the population was 12,378, The former burgh of Buckie is the largest settlement in the parish, which also includes Findochty and Portknockie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberton, Edinburgh</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Liberton is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is in the south of the city, south of The Inch, east of the Braid Hills and west of Moredun.

James Paton was a 16th-century Scottish cleric from Ballilisk, an estate in the parish of Muckhart, west of Kinross. As Ballilisk appears to have been a rectory serving the adjacent chapel at Muckhart his family are presumed to have included priests who served the parish in Pre-Reformation days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity College Kirk</span> Royal collegiate church in Edinburgh, Scotland

Trinity College Kirk was a royal collegiate church in Edinburgh, Scotland. The kirk and its adjacent almshouse, Trinity Hospital, were founded in 1460 by Mary of Gueldres in memory of her husband, King James II who had been killed at the siege of Roxburgh Castle that year. Queen Mary was interred in the church, until her coffin was moved to Holyrood Abbey in 1848.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colinton Parish Church</span> Church in Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Colinton Parish Church is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. The church building is located in Dell Road, Colinton, Edinburgh, Scotland next to the Water of Leith.

The Archdeacon of Brechin was the only archdeacon in the diocese of Brechin, acting as a subordinate of the Bishop of Brechin. The archdeacon held the parish church of Strachan as a prebend from at least 1274.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wallace Williamson</span>

Andrew Wallace Williamson KCVO, was a Church of Scotland minister who was Dean of the Thistle. He was Moderator of the General Assembly in 1913.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Macfarlane (moderator)</span> Scottish minister and ecclesiastical author

James Macfarlane FRSE (1808–1866) was a Scottish minister and ecclesiastical author who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1865. He was minister of Duddingston Kirk from 1841 until death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Cook (Haddington)</span> Scottish minister

John Cook (1807–1874) was a Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for the year 1866/67. In common with other members of the ecclesiastical family of Cook, he was a strong supporter of the moderate party in the Scottish church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Montgomery Campbell</span> Scottish clergyman (1859–1937)

James Montgomery Campbell (1859-1937) was a Scottish clergyman who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1928.

James Sievewright (1783–1852) was a Scottish minister of the Free Church of Scotland and who served as Moderator of the General Assembly 1847/48.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Forrester (minister)</span> Scottish minister

Alexander Forrester (1611–1686) was a Scottish minister of the 17th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Marjoribanks</span>

Thomas Marjoribanks (1871–1947) was a Scottish minister of the Church of Scotland and religious author who served as minister of the parish of Colinton, Edinburgh, Scotland and also served the role as Chief of Clan Marjoribanks.

James Bonar or Bonor was a Church of Scotland minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1644. He was a strong supporter of the Covenanters. He was a Resolutioner and member of the Moderate Party within the church.

John Currie (c.1670–1720) was a Church of Scotland minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1709.

Peter Colin Campbell (1810–1876) was a Scottish clergyman in the Church of Scotland who became the first professor at Queen's University, Canada and was later the first Principal of the University of Aberdeen, a role he held for 21 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West St Giles' Parish Church</span> Church in Edinburgh, Scotland

West St Giles' Parish Church was a parish church of the Church of Scotland and a burgh church of Edinburgh, Scotland. Occupying the Haddo's Hole division of St Giles' from 1699, the church was then based in Marchmont between 1883 and its closure in 1972.

Robert Pollock (1709–1759) was a Church of Scotland minister who served as principal of Marischal College in Aberdeen from 1757 to 1759.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Corstorphine Old Parish Church, Edinburgh". Scotland's Churches Trust. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Edinburgh, Kirk Loan, Corstorphine Parish Church". Canmore. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Kirk Loan and 2A Corstorphine High Street, Corstorphine Old Parish Church and Churchyard including Boundary Walls, Vault and Gate House, Gatepiers, Gates and War Memorial". Historic Environment Scotland. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  4. ↑ Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae
  5. ↑ Fawcett, Richard (2011). The architecture of the Scottish medieval church 1100-1560. London: Yale University Press.
  6. ↑ "Fasti ecclesiæ scoticanæ; the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the reformation". 1915.
  7. 1 2 3 Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae; by Hew Scott
  8. ↑ McWilliam, Colin; Walker, David; Gifford, John (1984). The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh. London: Penguin.
  9. ↑ Dickson, W. Traquair; Fergusson, James (1906). "The Church of Corstorphine, and Its Recent Restoration". Transactions of the Scottish Ecclesiological Society. 1 (3). Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  10. ↑ Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh by Gifford, McWilliam and Walker
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.