St John's Church | |
---|---|
The Parish Church of Saint John the Evangelist | |
Location | 1A Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH1 2AB |
Country | Scotland |
Denomination | Scottish Episcopal Church |
Website | St John's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh |
History | |
Status | Active |
Dedication | John the Evangelist |
Dedicated | 19 March 1818 |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Parish church |
Architect(s) | William Burn |
Architectural type | Neo-gothic |
Groundbreaking | 1816 |
Administration | |
Diocese | Edinburgh |
Clergy | |
Bishop(s) | John Armes |
Rector | Markus Dünzkofer |
The Church of St John the Evangelist is a Scottish Episcopal church in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is sited at the west end of Princes Street at its junction with Lothian Road, and is protected as a category A listed building. [1]
The church was dedicated as St John's Chapel on Maundy Thursday 1818 with construction having begun in 1816. It was designed by the architect William Burn [2] the previous year, at the age of only 25.
The congregation had begun in 1792 when Daniel Sandford came to Edinburgh to minister on Church of England lines. In 1797 the Qualified congregation moved to Charlotte Chapel which was re-built on larger lines in 1811. They sold shares to fund a new church, the banker Sir William Forbes being the main figure, and Charlotte Chapel was then sold to the Baptists.
Edward Bannerman Ramsay joined St John's as curate in 1827. He succeeded Bishop Sandford as minister in 1830, and stayed until his own death in 1872, having been Dean from 1846.
The sanctuary and chancel were built in 1879–82 by Peddie & Kinnear (John Dick Peddie and Charles Kinnear). The vestry and Hall were added in 1915–16 by John More Dick Peddie and Forbes Smith.
The war memorial was added in 1919 to a design by Sir Robert Lorimer. Lorimer also designed and oversaw the addition of faux-vaults when Lothian Road was widened in 1926. [3]
St John's holds daily services and is one of the few remaining Episcopal churches in Scotland to hold the weekly service of Matins.[ citation needed ]
The plaster ceiling vault is derived from that found in the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey.
Stained glass is largely by Ballantine, but the east window is by William Raphael Eginton. [4]
The morning chapel was furnished by Walker Todd in 1935.
An extension was added to the south-east corner in 2018.
St John's is one of three churches which form Together, an ecumenical grouping in the New Town of Edinburgh. The others are St Andrew's & St George's West and St Cuthbert's. [6]
The church is also home to the Just Festival (formerly known as the Festival of Spirituality and Peace), which takes place each August alongside the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[ citation needed ]
An Ethiopian tabot, a replica of Moses' Tablets of Law, was discovered in storage at St John's Church, and was returned in February 2002 to Addis Ababa. [7] [8]
in 2017, the Scottish Episcopal Church changed its marriage canon to allow for clergy with the consent of their congregations to opt into the Scottish same-sex marriage legislation. The first marriage of a couple of the same gender inside an Anglican church in the British Isles was solemnised at St John's in September that year with the rector presiding. [9]
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.
Sir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish portrait painter. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland.
Edward Bannerman Ramsay,, usually referred to as Dean Ramsay, was a clergyman of the Scottish Episcopal Church, and Dean of Edinburgh in that communion from 1841, has a place in literature through his Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character, which had gone through 22 editions at his death. It is a book full of the personality of the author, and preserves many traits and anecdotes.
Sir William Arbuthnot, 1st Baronet of Edinburgh FRSE was a Scottish landowner and politician. He served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh and Lord Lieutenant of the City of Edinburgh.
The Bishop of Edinburgh, or sometimes the Lord Bishop of Edinburgh, is the ordinary of the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of 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.
The Cathedral Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, commonly known as St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church in the West End of Edinburgh, Scotland; part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Humbie is a hamlet and rural parish in East Lothian, Scotland lying in south-east of the county, approximately 10 miles (16 km) south-west of Haddington and 15 miles (24 km) south-east of Edinburgh. Humbie as it is known today was formed as the result of the union between Keith Marischal and Keith Hundeby in 1618.
St Paul's and St George's Church is an evangelical church of the Scottish Episcopal Church in central Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located on the corner of Broughton Street and York Place in the east end of Edinburgh's New Town, and is protected as a category A listed building.
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.
Daniel Sandford, M.A., D.D. was an Irish-born Anglican clergyman who served in the Scottish Episcopal Church as the Bishop of Edinburgh from 1806 until 1830.
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.
Charles George Hood Kinnear FRIBA ARSA FRSE was one half of Peddie & Kinnear partnership, one of Scotland’s most renowned and prodigious architectural firms. They were noted for their development of the Scots Baronial style, typified by Cockburn Street in Edinburgh, which evokes a highly medieval atmosphere. Kinnear was also a pioneer photographer credited with inventing the bellows attachment on early cameras.
The Moray Estate in Edinburgh was an exclusive early 19th century building venture attaching the west side of Edinburgh's New Town.
Rear-Admiral Sir William Ramsay KCB was a Scottish admiral in the Royal Navy.