The memorial window to Joan Carfrae Pinkerton, Duddingston Kirk

Memorial window to Rev John Thomson, Duddingston Kirk

Duddingston Kirk is a Parish Church in the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

, located adjacent to Holyrood Park in Duddingston Village, on the east side of the City of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Regular services are held at the kirk, conducted by the minister, Rev Dr James A. P. Jack (from 2001).

History

Cassel identifies the building as being Anglo-Saxon (i.e pre Norman conquest). The church was built in or around 1124 by Dodin, a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

knight, on land granted to

Kelso Abbey Kelso Abbey is a ruined Scottish abbey in Kelso, Scotland. It was founded in the 12th century by a community of Tironensian monks first brought to Scotland in the reign of Alexander I. It occupies ground overlooking the confluence of the Tweed ...

by King

David I of Scotland David I or Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim (Modern: ''Daibhidh I mac haoilChaluim''; – 24 May 1153) was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians from 1113 to 1124 and later King of Scotland from 1124 to 1153. The youngest son of Malcolm ...

. As originally built, the kirk consisted of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and square

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

. 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 The term Scoto-Norman (also Franco-Scottish or Franco-Gaelic) is used to describe people, families, institutions and archaeological artifacts that are partly Scottish (in some sense) and partly Anglo-Norman (in some sense). It is used to refer to ...

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 The Burke and Hare murders were a series of sixteen killings committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were undertaken by William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses to Robert Knox for dissection ...

, 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 Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

was ordained an elder at Duddingston in 1806. The kirk has also been used as a venue during the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

Ministers

A famous and widely admired minister in the early 19th century (1805–1840) was the

Reverend John Thomson Rev John Thomson FRSE Hon RSA (1 September 177828 October 1840) 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. Life The youngest of eight chil ...

, a notable painter and friend of

Raeburn Raeburn is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Agnes Raeburn (1872-1955), Scottish artist * Anna Raeburn (born 1944), British broadcaster and journalist * Boyd Raeburn U.S. jazz bandleader and bass saxophonist * Henry Raeburn (17 ...

and

Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turni ...

. 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".

James Macfarlane James MacFarlane (17 July 1866 – 11 December 1942) was a New Zealand cricketer. He played first-class cricket for Canterbury and Otago between the 1887–88 and 1895–96 seasons.Charles Lumsden Charles J. Lumsden (born 1949) is a Canadian biologist in the Department of Medicine and Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto. He has been an early proponent of sociobiology, looking to our genetic nature to supplement culture in desc ...

married Beatrice Pont daughter of

Robert Pont Robert Pont (the abbreviated form of Kylpont or Kynpont) (1529–1606) was a Church of Scotland minister, judge and reformer. He was a church minister and commissioner and a Senator of the College of Justice. His translation of the Helveti ...

*1630 to 1633 -

Robert Monteith of Salmonet Robert Monteith of Salmonet (1603–1660) was a colourful character who abandoned his role as a Presbyterian minister in the Church of Scotland to join the Roman Catholic Church where he rose to be a Canon in Notre Dame de Paris, France. He ...

rejoined the Roman Catholic Church and became Canon of

Notre Dame, Paris Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

*1633 to 1635 - Jasper Hume MA *1635 to 1639 - Archibald Newton MA *1641 to 1686 - Charles Lumsden (secundus) *1681 to 1691 - Andrew Lumsden MA (1654-1733) son of preceding *1694 to 1704 - James Craig MA *1705 to 1754 -

David Malcolm David Kingsley Malcolm, Order of Australia, AC, Queen's Counsel, QC (6 May 1938 – 20 October 2014) was the Chief Justice of Western Australia from May 1988 until his retirement from the bench in February 2006. He was also an expatriate justic ...

criticised for attending the wedding of

George Drummond George Drummond (1688–1766) was accountant-general of excise in Scotland and a local politician, elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh a number of times between 1725 and 1764. Life Drummond was born at Newton Castle in Blairgowrie, Perthshire ...

in Edinburgh *1744 to 1745 - Robert Pollock MA, later Principal of

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has acted as the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. However, the building was constructed for and is on long- ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

*1746 to 1785 - William Bennet (d.1785) *1786 to 1805 - William Bennet (d.1805) nephew of preceding - drowned in Duddingston Loch adjoining the church *1805 to 1840 - John Thomson (see above) *1841 to 1866 -

James Macfarlane James MacFarlane (17 July 1866 – 11 December 1942) was a New Zealand cricketer. He played first-class cricket for Canterbury and Otago between the 1887–88 and 1895–96 seasons.Allan Pinkerton Allan J. Pinkerton (August 25, 1819 – July 1, 1884) was a Scottish cooper, abolitionist, detective, and spy, best known for creating the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in the United States and his claim to have foiled a plot in 1861 to a ...

, who was born in

Duddingston Duddingston ( sco, Duddiston) is a historic village in the east of Edinburgh, Scotland, next to Holyrood Park. Origins and etymology The estate wherein Duddingston Village now lies was first recorded in lands granted to the Tironensian monks ...

in 1822 and died in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1887. The window is designed by

Douglas Strachan Douglas Strachan (26 May 1875, Aberdeen, Scotland – 20 November 1950) is considered the most significant Scottish designer of stained glass windows in the 20th century. He is best known for his windows at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherl ...

. The stained glass immediately east of the pulpit commemorates Dr

Stevenson Macadam Stevenson Macadam (27 April 1829 – 24 January 1901) was a Scottish scientist, analytical chemist, lecturer, and academic author. He was a founding member of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain (now the Royal Society of Chemistry) an ...

, an elder in the church.

Duddingston Kirkyard

Notable burials and memorials include: *

William Henry Dick-Cunyngham Lieutenant Colonel William Henry Dick-Cunyngham VC (16 June 1851 – 6 January 1900) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British a ...

VC (memorial only) * Rev David Thomas Ker Drummond * Benjamin Duff Dunbar (1808-1897) * Very Rev James Macfarlane *Very Rev

Mackintosh MacKay Mackintosh MacKay (1793 – 1873) was a Scottish minister and author who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland in 1849. He edited the Highland Society's prodigious Gaelic dictionary ('Dictionarium Scoto-Celt ...

(1792-1873) Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland in 1849 *

Thomas Meik Thomas Meik ( – )Thomas Meik
''Grace's Guide''. Retrieved: 8 October 2015. was a 19th-century Scottish eng ...

engineer * James Browne LLD is apparently in the base of the church tower.Cassells Old and New Edinburgh vol.2 Ch.31 *Rev

John Thomson of Duddingston Rev John Thomson FRSE Hon RSA (1 September 177828 October 1840) 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. Life The youngest of eight chi ...

References

External links

Duddingston Kirk

Church of Scotland Presbytery of Edinburgh
{{coord, 55, 56, 28.22, N, 3, 8, 56.82, W, type:landmark, display=title Churches completed in 1124 12th-century church buildings in Scotland Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Church of Scotland churches in Edinburgh Listed churches in Scotland Protestant churches converted from Roman Catholicism

History

Ministers

Duddingston Kirkyard

See also

References

External links