St Triduana's Aisle Chapel and Wellhouse Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh Council Area, Scotland, UK
The monument consists of St Triduana's Aisle, a hexagonal two-storeyed chapel of the 15th century.
The sunken vaulted chamber of a 15th-century building adjoins the partly rebuilt medieval church of Restalrig.
Scheduled Monument Statement of Significance
© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.
The monument is of national importance because of its architectural quality and because of its association with James III as part of the construction of the King's chapel built before 1487. The area around has the potential to provide archaeological evidence for the construction of the chapel and for ecclesiastical use of the site.
Scheduled Monument Description
© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.
The monument consists of St Triduana's Aisle, a hexagonal two-storeyed chapel of the 15th century.
The sunken vaulted chamber of a 15th-century building adjoins the partly rebuilt medieval church of Restalrig. Only fragments remain of an upper chamber. The lower chamber was cleared out and restored in 1907 by Dr Thomas Ross, and has since been known as "St Triduana's Well-House".
The presence of water may be accidental and the structure is probably a chapel rather than a well-house. The lower chamber of the hexagon is 2.25m below ground level and measures about 15m across externally. The walls are pierced by windows of three pointed and cusped lights beneath three-centered arches, externally surmounted by moulded dripstones.
The chamber is entered from the churchyard through a small court and a door in the SW wall of the hexagon. There were four butresses, but only one is original, the remainder having been replaced in 1907. The interior vault springs from the foliated capitals of angle-shafts and a clustered central pillar.
The upper chamber was a more refined chamber and was probably the Kings Chapel endowed by King James III in 1477. An entry in the Exchequer Rolls of 1486-7 records the payment for the roof of the chapel. In 1609 the church was described as ruinious, but the lower chamber of the hexagon was preserved as a burial aisle for the Logans of Restalrig.
The area to be scheduled is a circle 15m across with an appended square of side 6m just N of W, to include the hexagonal chamber, the entry courtyard and the area immediatly around the chapel which is likely to contain archaeological evidence for the construction of the monument. It specifically excludes the section of the 19th century church adjacent to the monument. The area is marked in red on the accompanying map.
Scheduled Monument References
© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.
RCAHMS records the monument as NT 27 SE 103.01.
Reference:
MacIvor, I, 1965, 'The King's Chapel at Restalrig and St Triduana's Aisle: a hexagonal two-storeyed chapel of the fifteenth century', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol. 96, 247-63.
https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/st-triduanas-chapel-restalrig-collegiate-church