St Paul's And St George's Church
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St Paul's and St George's Church (known colloquially as "Ps and Gs") is an evangelical church 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 ...
. It is located on the corner of Broughton Street and
York Place The Palace of Whitehall – also spelled White Hall – at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, with the notable exception of Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, w ...
in the east end of Edinburgh's
New Town New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...
, and is protected as a category A
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 building was erected as St Paul's Church, replacing a chapel in the
Cowgate The Cowgate (Scots language, Scots: The Cougait) is a street in Edinburgh, Scotland, located about southeast of Edinburgh Castle, within the city's World Heritage Site. The street is part of the lower level of Edinburgh's Old Town, Edinburgh, ...
. It was designed by
Archibald Elliot Archibald Elliot (August 1761 – 16 June 1823) was a Scottish architecture, architect based in Edinburgh. He had a very distinctive style, typified by square plans, concealed roofs, crenellated walls and square corner towers. All may be said t ...
between 1816 and 1818, and was extended by Peddie and Kinnear in the 1890s. In 1932 the congregation merged with that of St George's Church, also located on York Place. The east window is by
Francis Eginton Francis Eginton (1737–1805), sometimes spelled Egginton, was an English glass painter. He painted windows for cathedrals, churches, chapels and stately homes, etc., around the country, leaving 50 large works altogether; his work was also exp ...
of
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
. In 2008 a £5.6 million building project to improve facilities in the church was completed.


History

In 18th-century Edinburgh, Episcopalians met for worship in small chapels around the city. There were three Non-Juror Chapels and three Qualified Chapels. On 18 August 1708, George Haliburton, Bishop of Aberdeen, licensed Robert Blair to be the first Episcopalian priest of a new congregation which began its life meeting in a room in Half Moon Close on the Castle Hill in Edinburgh. This new congregation was founded by John Smith, a barrister, who came to Scotland following the Union of the Parliaments in 1707, to serve as Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer of Scotland. Rent for the new meeting house amounted to £6 per year. The church was later made a collegiate church and as the congregation grew, John Smith looked to build a permanent place of worship, and in 1722 the New Chapel was opened near the foot of Blackfriars Wynd (now Street) in the
Cowgate The Cowgate (Scots language, Scots: The Cougait) is a street in Edinburgh, Scotland, located about southeast of Edinburgh Castle, within the city's World Heritage Site. The street is part of the lower level of Edinburgh's Old Town, Edinburgh, ...
. In 1745, after further expansion, the congregation bought the adjoining building in order to enlarge the chapel. In 1774, the congregation moved to their newly built church at the east end of the Cowgate (now St Patrick’s RC). Soon after, however, many of its well-to-do congregation began to move out of the Old Town into the townhouses of the emerging New Town, and it became necessary for the congregation to relocate once again. St Paul's and St John's considered uniting and building a large church on
The Mound The Mound is an artificial slope and road in central Edinburgh, Scotland, which connects Edinburgh's New and Old Towns. It was formed by dumping around 1,501,000 cartloads of earth excavated from the foundations of the New Town into Nor Loc ...
, but it was decided to have two chapels, one in the west end ( St John's) and one in the east end. The present building was built at this time. The new church, St Paul’s Chapel, was consecrated on the 30 January 1818.  The architect was Archibald Elliot whose plans were based on the design of
King's College Chapel, Cambridge King's College Chapel is the chapel of King's College in the University of Cambridge. It is considered one of the finest examples of late Perpendicular Gothic English architecture and features the world's largest fan vault. The Chapel was bu ...
. The first rectors of the new church were the clergyman and writer Archibald Alison, and Robert Morehead. The building cost £12,000, raised by voluntary subscription. The pew which Walter Scott's family used may now be seen in the side chapel in St Mary's Cathedral in Palmerston Place. The site at the east end of
York Place The Palace of Whitehall – also spelled White Hall – at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, with the notable exception of Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, w ...
had previously been occupied by some small buildings and backed onto Brown's Coachyard, which had been the main coach station for Edinburgh for some years. The wall at the back of the Church is the original wall behind which the horses and coaches were prepared. This trade diminished with the advent of the railways. By 1891 it was decided to alter the building and enlarge it from a Chapel into a Church. The Chancel was built, extending the Church eastwards and the door into the Church was moved further West along York Place to where the red door now is. An Episcopalian chapel already existed on York Place, St George's, built in 1794 by James Adam. In 1932 the two neighbouring congregations amalgamated at St Paul's, which was renamed St Paul's and St George's Church. The old St George's Church was closed and the building is now in use as a casino. Inside the Church the balconies were taken down, staircases removed and the organ moved from the West End to its current position. A new pulpit, rood screen and reredos were commissioned from JM Dick Peddie and Forbes Smith, the reredos beautifully portraying Christ with the little children and flanked by St Paul on the left and St
Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne () ( – 20 March 687) was a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Hiberno-Scottish mission, Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monastery, monasteries of Melrose Abbey#Histo ...
on the right. A small new chapel was made inside the old entrance. This was later dedicated to the fallen of the First World War. The current great west window, originally in the East end, was rebuilt into the West end, and a new East Window and new Chancel windows were introduced depicting a number of early Celtic saints, mostly associated with this area of Scotland. A small stained glass window from the Cowgate Chapel is in the Vestry. The organ, by
John Snetzler John Snetzler (or Schnetzler) was an organ builder of Swiss origin, who worked mostly in England. Born in Schaffhausen in 1710, he trained with the firm of Egedacher in Passau and came to London about 1741. When he retired in 1781, his business ...
, was originally in the Cowgate Chapel, but was rebuilt in the York Place building by J Bruce in 1818. After several refurbishments, it was enlarged by
Harrison & Harrison Harrison & Harrison Ltd is a British company based in Durham that makes and restores pipe organs. It was established in Rochdale in 1861. It is well known for its work on instruments such as King's College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, and t ...
in 1906. On the North-East corner there is a bell tower with a single bell, moved there in 1818, originally one of a peal of 3 bought for the coronation of Charles I at Holyrood Abbey in 1633. The bell is still operational but is no longer used. In the later years of the 20th century, numbers attending St Paul's and St George's had dwindled. In 1985, the Bishop of Edinburgh Alastair Haggart installed Rev Roger Simpson as rector and members from the Evangelical Episcopal Church of St Thomas in Corstorphine came to the York Place church. Within 10 years, the church congregation had grown significantly as a result of the change in churchmanship to a more Evangelical style.


Rectors

Past rectors of St Paul's (and later St Paul's and St George's) Church have included: * Archibald Alison (1818-1830) * Robert Morehead (1818-) ? Wilson -1897 Earnest Hilton Molesworth 1897-1905 * William Henderson Begg (1932–34) * Theodore Edgar Keyden (1934–37) * Claude Philip Moor (1938–45) * William Benjamin Harvey (1945–55) * Thomas Veitch (1956–84) * Roger Westgarth Simpson (1985–95) * Michael Peter Maudsley (1995-) * David Richards (1995-Present)


Architecture

St Paul's and St George's Church is a noted structure in the early part of
Edinburgh's New Town The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original Neoclassicism, neo-classical and Georgian architecture, Georgian period architecture. Its ...
, and stands out as one of the few
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
buildings in an area largely made up of Georgian
Neoclassical architecture Neoclassical architecture, sometimes referred to as Classical Revival architecture, is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy, France and Germany. It became one of t ...
. The Scottish architect
Archibald Elliot Archibald Elliot (August 1761 – 16 June 1823) was a Scottish architecture, architect based in Edinburgh. He had a very distinctive style, typified by square plans, concealed roofs, crenellated walls and square corner towers. All may be said t ...
began work on the new church of St Paul in 1816. Designing it in a
Perpendicular style Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...
on a nave-and-aisle floorplan, he modelled the building on King's College Chapel, Cambridge, complete with
crocket A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the Old French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of a crocket to a bishop's Shepherd's crook, ...
ted
pinnacles A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...
and
buttresses A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act a ...
and four octagonal
turrets Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * ...
on the corners, inspired by those on
St Mary's Church, Beverley St Mary's Church is an Church of England, Anglican parish church in Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is designated a Grade I listed building. History St Mary's was established in the first half of the 12th century as a da ...
in Yorkshire. The exterior
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
is richly decorated with Gothic
strapwork In the history of art and design, strapwork is the use of stylised representations in ornament of ribbon-like forms. These may loosely imitate leather straps, parchment or metal cut into elaborate shapes, with piercings, and often interwoven in ...
and topped with a
crenellated A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...
parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...
. The interior consists of a long
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 ...
flanked by tall aisles and arched stone columns. On the north wall is a stone
tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...
topped with a Gothic
ogee arch An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircular curves or arcs that, as ...
, designed by
David Bryce David Bryce Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE FRIBA Royal Scottish Academy, RSA (3 April 1803 – 7 May 1876) was a Scotland, Scottish architect. Life Bryce was born at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh, the son of David B ...
. There are marble monuments by Scottish sculptors Sir
John Steell Sir John Robert Steell (Aberdeen 18 September 1804 – 15 September 1891) was a Scottish sculptor. He modelled many of the leading figures of Scottish history and culture, and is best known for a number of sculptures displayed in Edinburgh, ...
and
David Watson Stevenson David Watson Stephenson (25 March 1842 – 18 March 1904) was a Scottish sculptor, executing portraits and monuments in marble and bronze. Biography Stevenson was born in Ratho, Midlothian, Scotland, on 25 March 1842, the son of William Stev ...
. In 1891–2, the east end of the church was extended by Peddie and Kinnear, turning the original
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
into a
choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...
. The renovating architects also added a rib-vaulted south-east porch, installed new furnishings and removed the aisle galleries. A growing congregation created a need to accommodate a larger number of worshippers, and in the early 21st century a project was undertaken by Lee Boyd architects to renovate the church. New glass-fronted aisle galleries were constructed (re-instating the interior balconies that had been removed in the 1890s) and doubling the capacity of the church. A steel and glass entrance pavilion was also constructed outside the west door, and the church hall was demolished and replaced. The £5.6 million building project was completed in 2008 was named Building of the Year in the 2009 Edinburgh Architectural Association Awards.


Architectural elements

File:Église Sts Paul George Édimbourg 2.jpg, Elliot's octagonal turrets on St Paul's and St George's File:ÉdinburghPaulGeorge2017.jpg, The east window of Peddie and Kinnear's 1892 extension File:27.5.16 3 Beverley St Marys 11 (27245785052).jpg, Octagonal turrets on St Mary's Beverley File:PSX 20160815 002632.jpg, The nave-and-aisle chapel at King's College, Cambridge File:York Place 5B, Edinburgh.JPG, St George's Chapel, York Place, now a casino


Notable members

* Thomas Suther


References


Citations


Sources

*


External links


Official website

St Paul's and St George's
on the Scottish Episcopal Church directory {{DEFAULTSORT:Paul's and George's Church, Edinburgh, Saint Episcopal church buildings in Edinburgh Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Listed churches in Edinburgh 1818 establishments in Scotland Gothic Revival church buildings in Scotland Evangelical churches in the United Kingdom Evangelical Anglicanism New Town, Edinburgh