St Columba's-by-the-Castle is a congregation of the

Scottish Episcopal Church The Scottish Episcopal Church (; ) is a Christian denomination in Scotland. Scotland's third largest church, the Scottish Episcopal Church has 303 local congregations. It is also an Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, ecclesiastical provi ...

in central

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The church is located close to

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since the reign of Malcol ...

, on the south slope of Castle Hill, and is protected as a category B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The church was constructed in 1846–1847 in an

Early English Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...

style, to designs by architect John Henderson. Stone for the building was brought from the palace of

Mary of Guise Mary of Guise (; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French people, French noblewoman of the ...

, 16th-century queen regent of Scotland, on the

Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is the nickname of a series of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. The term originated in the early 20th century and has since entered popular usage. The Royal ...

. Its layout was inspired by the reforms of

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

worship arising from the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...

. St Columba's-by-the-Castle is part of a

local ecumenical partnership In England and Wales, a local ecumenical partnership (or project) is a partnership between churches of different denominations. First piloted in 1964, over 850 now exist to promote unity between different Christian denominations. The missiolog ...

(LEP) with Greyfriars Tolbooth & Highland Kirk (

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

) and

Augustine United Church Augustine United Church is a United Reformed Church in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is in a local ecumenical partnership with St Columba's-by-the-Castle (Scottish Episcopal Church) and Greyfriars Kirk, Greyfriars Tolbooth and Highland Kirk (Church ...

(

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...

). It is also part of Edinburgh Churches Together and

Action of Churches Together in Scotland Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS) was a national ecumenical organisation of churches in Scotland, founded in 1990.Douglas Galbraith (editor), ''Church of Scotland Yearbook 2013-14,'' page 31, St Andrew Press, Edinburgh, 2013, It ran ...

. During the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

it has been used by the promoter C venues as a venue.

References

External links

St Columba's-by-the-Castle web page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Columba's by the Castle, Edinburgh, Saint Anglo-Catholic church buildings in Scotland Episcopal church buildings in Edinburgh Category B listed buildings in Edinburgh Listed churches in Edinburgh

See also

References

External links