Duddingston Kirk is a Parish Church in the Church of Scotland, located adjacent to Holyrood Park in Duddingston Village, on the east side of the City of Edinburgh. Regular services are held at the kirk, conducted by the minister, Rev Dr James A. P. Jack (from 2001).
Cassel identifies the building as being Anglo-Saxon (i.e. pre Norman conquest). [1]
The church was built in or around 1124 by Dodin, a Norman knight, on land granted to Kelso Abbey by King David I of Scotland. As originally built, the kirk consisted of the chancel, nave and square tower. The traditional pattern of an east–west axis was adopted. The original entrance on the south wall includes a particularly fine example of Scoto-Norman stone carving, with a round-topped doorway. Following the enlargement of the parish boundaries, the Prestonfield Aisle was added in 1631. This consists of a gallery, downstairs area and burial vaults were on the north side. In 1968 the kirk's interior was reconditioned, with the former pipe organ removed.
The entrance to the kirkyard from Duddingston village is notable for its gatehouse, built as a lookout point to deter "bodysnatchers" in the early 19th century. The Edinburgh bodysnatchers, known as "resurrectionists", stole recently buried corpses to sell to anatomists, and, as in the notorious case of Burke and Hare, sometimes also resorted to murder.
Given its proximity to central Edinburgh, Duddingston has long been a favourite location for many of the city's artists and professionals. The novelist Walter Scott was ordained an elder at Duddingston in 1806. [2]
The kirk has also been used as a venue during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. [3]
A famous and widely admired minister in the early 19th century (1805–1840) was the Reverend John Thomson, a notable painter and friend of Raeburn and Turner. He referred to his parishioners (and large family) as "ma bairns" and hence one possible explanation of the popular Scottish expression "We're a' Jock Tamson's bairns". [Note the plaque opposite the church.)
He was replaced in 1841 by James Macfarlane FRSE DD (1808-1866), who was Moderator of the General Assembly in 1865.
The succession of ministers since the Reformation was:
The north triple window in the gallery is dedicated to Joan Carfrae, wife of the famous detective, Allan Pinkerton, who was born in Duddingston in 1822 and died in Chicago in 1887. The window is designed by Douglas Strachan.
The stained glass immediately east of the pulpit commemorates Dr Stevenson Macadam, an elder in the church.
Notable burials and memorials include:
The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on its west by the Dean Gallery. A 20th-century extension lies detached from the main cemetery to the north of Ravelston Terrace. The main cemetery is accessible through the main gate on its east side, through a "grace and favour" access door from the grounds of Dean Gallery and from Ravelston Terrace. The modern extension is only accessible at the junction of Dean Path and Queensferry Road.
St Machar's Cathedral is a Church of Scotland church in Aberdeen, Scotland, located to the north of the city centre, in the former burgh of Old Aberdeen. Technically, St Machar's is no longer a cathedral but rather a high kirk, as it has not been the seat of a bishop since 1690.
"Jock Tamson's bairns" is a Scots dialect version of "Jack (John) Thomson's children" but both Jock and Tamson in this context take on the connotation of Everyman. The Dictionary of the Scots Language gives the following definitions:
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.
The Grange is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hill to the south. It is a conservation area characterised by large early Victorian stone-built villas and mansions, often with very large gardens. The Grange was built mainly between 1830 and 1890, and the area represented the idealisation of country living within an urban setting.
Rev John Thomson FRSE HonRSA was a Scottish minister of the Church of Scotland and noted amateur landscape painter. He was the minister of Duddingston Kirk from 1805 to 1840.
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.
Newburn is a civil parish in the County of Fife in Scotland. It is located on the north coast of the Firth of Forth and bounded by the parishes of Kilconquhar and Largo. It was originally a rural parish with no major settlement, but with the development of Leven as a seaside resort in the late 19th century, the population of the parish grew considerably.
The Parish Church of St Cuthbert is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in central Edinburgh. Probably founded in the 7th century, the church once covered an extensive parish around the burgh of Edinburgh. The church's current building was designed by Hippolyte Blanc and completed in 1894.
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.
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.
South Leith Parish Church, originally the Kirk of Our Lady, St Mary, is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. It is the principal church and congregation in Leith, in Edinburgh. Its kirkyard is the burial place for John Home and John Pew, the man from whom the author Robert Louis Stevenson reputedly derived the character of Blind Pew in the novel Treasure Island. The church has been repaired, used as an ammunition store and reconstructed but still retains the basic layout of the nave of the old church.
Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 16th century, and a number of notable Edinburgh residents are interred at Greyfriars. The Kirkyard is operated by City of Edinburgh Council in liaison with a charitable trust, which is linked to but separate from the church. The Kirkyard and its monuments are protected as a category A listed building.
Warriston Cemetery is a cemetery in Edinburgh. It lies in Warriston, one of the northern suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built by the then newly-formed Edinburgh Cemetery Company, and occupies around 14 acres (5.7 ha) of land on a slightly sloping site. It contains many tens of thousands of graves, including notable Victorian and Edwardian figures, the most eminent being the physician Sir James Young Simpson.
David Thomas Kerr Drummond (1805–1877) was a Scottish Evangelical minister. A previous member of the Scottish Episcopal Church, he resigned in 1842 to establish the English Church in Edinburgh. This split is known in Scottish religious history as "The Drummondite Schism". He is separately noted as an early amateur photographer.
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.
Henry Moncreiff-Wellwood 8th Baronet of Tullibole FRSE was both a baronet in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia and minister of the Church of Scotland who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1785. At age only 35 he was one of the youngest-ever moderators. He served as Chaplain to King George III in Scotland.
Logie Kirk, considered something of a ‘hidden gem, is nestled in a tranquil spot beneath Dumyat at the Western side of the Ochil Hills, east of Stirling in central Scotland. It serves Church of Scotland pastoral duties in the areas of Cambuskenneth, Bridge of Allan, Causewayhead, and formerly the estate of Airthrey Castle.
John Paul DD (1795–1873) was a minister of the Church of Scotland who served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1847. A major figure in Edinburgh society, he was linked to both the Balfours of Leith and the Stevenson family of engineers.
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