Greyfriars Place, Greyfriars Church (Church of Scotland) Edinburgh, Scotland

Listed Building Data

Greyfriars Place, Greyfriars Church (Church of Scotland) has been designated a scheduled monument in Scotland with the following information. Please note that not all available data may be shown here, minor errors and/or formatting may have occurred during transcription, and some information may have become outdated since listing.

Historic Scotland ID: 363953 (entity ID)
Building ID: 27018
Canmore ID: 52397
Category: A
Name: Greyfriars Place, Greyfriars Church (church of Scotland)
Parish: Edinburgh
County: Edinburgh, City Of
Easting: 325640
Northing: 673259
Date Listed: 14 December 1970
Source: Historic Environment Scotland Portal: LB27018 official listing
More Info: Canmore: 52397 map, documents, images, activities, notes, etc.

Listed Building Description

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

Building begun 1601, opened 1620; possibly incorporating earlier fabric (see Notes). 8-bay rectangular church, fusion of Baroque and gothic survival styles. (Originally 6 bays with aisled nave, doors to N, S and E, and 4-stage square-plan tower to W. Tower and 2 W bays destroyed 1718 (see Notes). Wall built to divide off 4 E (undamaged) bays, which became Old Greyfriars; 2 W bays repaired and 2 new bays built to W (Alexander McGill), to form mirror-image church (New Greyfriars), opened 1722. Old Greyfriars gutted and New Greyfriars damaged by fire 1845. New Greyfriars re-opened 1846 (furnishings by David Bryce). Arcades of Old Greyfriars replaced with single-span open timber roof, and windows filled with ashlar pierced by lancets, David Cousin, 1856-7. Dividing wall and galleries removed, arcades rebuilt, timber ceiling built over 6 original bays and E gable restored, Henry Kerr, 1931-8.) Harled rubble with ashlar dressings. Pitched roof to nave, lean-to roofs to aisles (no clerestorey). Obelisk-topped buttresses between bays and at corners. 2-storey pedimented channelled ashlar porch, arcaded at ground floor to N (McGill, 1722). Base course; moulded eaves course. Pointed-arched chamfered surrounds to windows. Wall monuments. E ELEVATION: large round-arched window to centre with 5 plate tracery lancets; carved panel with date (1614) above; oculus in pediment above (obelisks to sides and apex); remains of round-arched door opening off-set to right below, now blocked and containing wall monuments. Straight skews and pointed-arched 3-light windows with plate tracery lancets to flanking bays. N ELEVATION: 2-storey 3-bay porch to centre; blind arch in centre bay with blind window above; 2-leaf timber panelled doors with sunburst fanlights in flanking bays; single windows above (12 pane glazing in timber sash and case windows); 2-leaf timber panelled doors with sunburst fanlights in returns; bell hung in bracketed timber shelter above (1991); decorative cast-iron bracket lamp on E return. Windows in pointed-arched surrounds in 3 bays to right and left: leaded windows to right, plate tracery lancets to left. W ELEVATION: pedimented centre bay with low piend-roofed semi-octagonal porch (originally principal entrance): 2-leaf timber boarded door in roll-moulded surround to N, blocked entrance to S, window to W); pointed-arched 3-light window with Y-tracery; oculus in pediment above (obelisks to sides and apex). Scrolled curvilinear skews and 2-light windows with Y-tracery above, 12-pane glazing below to flanking bays. S ELEVATION: 8 bays: wall monuments in outer left bay; outer right bay blank. Pointed-arched windows to 6 inner bays: plate tracery lancets to 3 right windows, small-pane glazing to outer left (lattice above, 12-pane below) Y-tracery to left. INTERIOR: rebuilt Henry Kerr, 1931-38. 6-bay nave to E: arcaded aisles with octagonal piers; compartmented timber (Californian redwood) ceiling with decorative gilded medallions. Mid 17th century memorial tablet in S aisle to Lady Yester: emblems of mortality and inscription in Artisan Mannerist aedicule, painted and gilded (see Notes). 2 bays to E: timber gallery built under arch to accommodate organ (Peter Collins, 1988) in fine decorative case; rooms in aisles. Communion table and panelling behind, Honeyman, 1912; octagonal 17th century-style pulpit with sounding-board (Honeyman, 1912) now against 3rd S pier. wall monument in S aisle

Listed Building Statement of Special Interest

Text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

A group comprises Greyfriars Church and Greyfriars Churchyard. The church was built in the grounds of the former Franciscan Friary (dissolved 1559), which had been used as a burial ground from 1562; it is said to incorporate material from the former nunnery of St Catherine of Siena (Sciennes). The Masters of Works were Clement Russell (1602), then Patrick Cochrane (1603-4). Greyfriars was the 1st church to be built in Edinburgh after the Reformation, serving the SW district of the city; its congregation moved from St Giles. The National Covenant was signed in Greyfriars on 26th February 1638. The building was used as a barracks by Cromwell's troops, 1650-53 (interior and furnishings were destroyed). Gunpowder stored in the tower exploded in May 1718, destroying the tower and damaging the 2 W bays. A fire in January 1845 gutted Old Greyfriars, causing arcades to collapse, and damaging New Greyfriars. Wilson illustrates the E end before the fire. New Greyfriars was re-opened in 1846 with furnishings by David Bryce; Old Greyfriars restored by David Cousin, 1856-7. The Congregations united in 1929, and the 2 churches were joined by Henry Kerr in 1931-8. Stained glass (the first in an Edinburgh Presbyterian church since the Reformation), mainly by Ballantine and Allan (1857), remained largely unaltered. The memorial in the S aisle was brought from Lady Yester's Church in 1938.

Listed Building References

Appears on Gordon of Rothiemay's map of 1647. Wilson MEMOTIALS OF EDINBURGH IN THE OLDEN TIME (1891) ill 19 p240. RCAHMS INVENTORY EDINBURGH (1951) No 7 pp 44-71. Hay THE ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTTISH POST-REFORMATION CHURCHES (1957) p264. Gifford, McWilliam and Walker EDINBURGH (1984) pp 152-63. Steele GREYFRIARS 1993 (Church Guide).