Corstorphine Old Parish Church, formerly St. John's Collegiate Church, is at the old centre of

Corstorphine Corstorphine (Scottish Gaelic: ''Crois Thoirfinn'') ( ) is an area of the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh. Formerly a separate village and parish to the west of Edinburgh, it is now a suburb of the city, having been formally incorporate ...

, a village incorporated to the west area of

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 ...

. Built in the 15th century, in the churchyard of a 12th-century or earlier chapel, the former

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

was listed category A by

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...

on 14 December 1970.

History

King

David I David I may refer to: * David I, Caucasian Albanian Catholicos c. 399 * David I of Armenia, Catholicos of Armenia (728–741) * David I Kuropalates of Georgia (died 881) * David I Anhoghin, king of Lori (ruled 989–1048) * David I of Scotland ...

granted the chapel at Corstophine to

Holyrood Abbey Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a List of British royal residences, royal r ...

in 1128. Before that, it was a satellite chapel of St Cuthbert's Church. By 1158, it had become a church, with altars to

Saint Anne According to apocrypha, as well as Christianity, Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's Gosp ...

and the

Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

. A burial chapel was added to the church in 1404 by Sir Adam Forrester, chamberlain to

Anabella Drummond Annabella Drummond ( - c. October 1401) was Queen of Scots as the wife of King Robert III. Reigning as consort from 1390 until her death in 1401, Annabella exercised considerable political influence, especially during the later years of her husba ...

, who died by 1405. Stephen Boardman, 'James I and the cult of John the Baptist', Steven J. Reid, ''Rethinking the Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland'' (Boydell, 2014), 85. The church was then dedicated to

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

. The church was elevated to a

by his son Sir John Forrester in 1429. The foundation of the current church (on the inner eastmost wall) says the church was built in 1429 in the same churchyard as the earlier parish church, and was completed by 1437. The sandstone church was built with a tower and stone, octagonal spire, rectangular chancel, and a nave with transepts. This included the absorption of earlier

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

features from the previous building and the erection of the characteristic

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

s, which may have concluded by 1436. Corstorphine parish church

The remodeling of the more sophisticated, pre-existing vault like the one in the south

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

shows a structurally slightly arbitrary pattern of two semi- quadripartite arrangement of ribs rising from a springing point at the centre of the bays. In 1548, Thomas Marjoribanks, son of Thomas Marjoribanks, burgess in Edinburgh, replaced Robert Marjoribanks (probably his uncle) upon the occasion of Robert's death, as prepend (vicar) of Corstorphine Kirk and continued through the Reformation until 1567. Rev Andrew Forrester became minister in 1590.

Gogar Gogar is a predominantly rural area of Edinburgh, Scotland, located to the west of the city. It is not far from Gogarloch, Edinburgh Park and Maybury. The Fife Circle Line is to the north. Etymology The name of Gogar first appears in a cle ...

was added to the parish in 1599.''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae''; by Hew Scott In 1634, the collegiate church was dissolved and in 1646 the building became the parish church. At that time the 12th-century church was razed and a new aisle was added to the collegiate fabric. Stones from the former church were used to build the porch. In 1828, a restoration by architect

William Burn William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival, often referred ...

resulted in a two-storey sacristy, renovation of the nave, removal of a 17th-century aisle, and building of a new aisle and transept. The east choir and the adjacent sacristy are the only original roofs that survived and the vaults of the nave and aisle were re-made in precast concrete ribbed panels during the restoration from 1903 to 1905 by George Henderson. The church has Scottish heraldic panels and pre-

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

relics.

James Ballantine James Ballantine (11 June 1806 – 18 December 1877) was a Scottish artist and author, known for his stained-glass windows and poetry. Early life and education James Ballantine was born on 11 June 1806 in West Port, Edinburgh. His father wa ...

supplied the Victorian stained glass and Gordon Webster and Nathaniel Bryson supplied the 20th-century windows.

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

's ''

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, ''The Last Supper (Leonardo), The Last Supper'' (1495-1498). Mural, tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic ...

'' was the inspiration for the heads on the carved

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

s made by

William Birnie Rhind William Birnie Rhind Royal Scottish Academy, RSA (1853–1933) was a Scottish sculptor. Life Rhind was born in Edinburgh on 27 February 1853 as the first son of sculptor John Rhind (sculptor), John Rhind (1828–1892), and his wife, Cath ...

. On the grounds are a war memorial, vault and gatehouse, surrounded by a boundary wall and cast iron gates. The ancient stone font, in the south transept, was brought from

church in 1955. In 1913 a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

was built to the north-west: St Anne's on St John's Road by

Peter MacGregor Chalmers Peter MacGregor Chalmers LLD (14 March 1859 – 15 March 1922) was a Scottish architect specialising in country churches, and also being involved in several important restoration schemes. Life Chalmers was born on 14 March 1859, the son of Georg ...

.Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh by Gifford, McWilliam and Walker

Stained Glass

The church includes several windows by the Bannantine Brothers, two by Nythaniel Bryson and one by

Douglas Strachan Douglas Strachan Hon. RSA (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 Hagu ...

. Also of note is the memorial window to the mother (Jessie Chrystal Finlayson) and father (John Macmillan) of women's rights campaigner Jessie Chrystal Macmillan. Jessie Chrystal Macmillan, known as Chrystal shared the same name as her mother Jessie Chrystal Finlayson and she never married.

Former Ministers

see *Nicol Ballantine (d.1470) first known named "provost" of the church *

Robert Cairncross Robert Cairncross (died 1544) was a Scottish bishop. At various times he was provost of Corstorphine, abbot of Holyrood. He was appointed bishop of Ross in 1539, holding ''in commendam'' the abbacy of Fern. He also held office as Lord High ...

was provost in 1544... left to become Abbot of

*Walter Couper of

(d.1570) reader *William Arthur MA from 1599 to 1607 - the presbytery proclaimed he was "overleirnit (overeducated) a man for thame (them, the congregation)" *Robert Rutherford MA from 1607 to 1616 *Robert Lindsay MA from 1617 to 1624 *David Balsillie MA from 1626 to 1654 *Robert Hunter MA from 1655 to 1668 *Thomas Mowbray MA (d.1666) 1665/6 *Archibald Chisholm (1633–1670) from 1666 to 1670 *John Pringle MA 1670/1 *George Henry MA (d.1723) from 1672 to 1689 *Robert Law MA from 1689 to 1692? *Archibald Hamilton MA (1663–1709) from 1692 to 1709 *George Fordyce (1683–1767) from 1709 to 1767 (the parish's longest serving minister) *Rev John Chiesley (d.1788) from 1768 to 1788, grandson of

Robert Chieslie Sir Robert Chieslie of Dalry (sometimes spelled Cheislie, Chiesley or Chishley) (c. 1650 – c. 1705) was a Scottish merchant who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1694 to 1696. Given the rarity of the name he is probably Robert Cheisl ...

, John married Helen Pillans daughter of James Pillans *Thomas Sharp (d.1791) from 1789 to 1791 *James Oliver (d.1814) from 1792 to 1814 * David Scot (1770–1834) from 1814 to 1833 * David Horne (1802–1863) from 1833 to 1863 *Robert Keith Dick Horne (1833–1907) from 1863 to 1881, son of the above *Rev Dr James Dodds DD (1831–1907) from 1881 to 1907 *Rev James Ferguson (b.1866) from 1895 as assistant to Dodds, as minister 1907 to 1926 *Rev Moira McDonald (current)

References

External links

*
Corstorphine Old Parish Church
{{Religious sites in Edinburgh Church of Scotland churches in Edinburgh Listed churches in Edinburgh 15th-century church buildings in Scotland Protestant churches converted from Roman Catholicism Corstorphine