Holy Corner is a colloquial name for a small 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 ...

, Scotland, and (along with Church Hill) is part of the area more properly known as

Burghmuirhead Burghmuirhead (sometimes anglicised as Boroughmuirhead) is an area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The area lies between Bruntsfield to the north and Morningside, Edinburgh, Morningside to the south. West is Merchiston and east is Greenhill, Edinburgh ...

, itself part of the lands of Greenhill. Holy Corner lies between the areas of

Bruntsfield Bruntsfield is a largely residential area around Bruntsfield Place in Southern Edinburgh, Scotland. In feudal times, it fell within the barony of Colinton. Location Bruntsfield Place is less than south on the A702 road (Great Britain), A70 ...

and Morningside.

Location

The name derives from the crossroads, where Morningside Road,

Colinton Colinton is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated southwest of the city centre. Up until the late 18th century it appears on maps as Collington. It is bordered by Dreghorn to the south and Craiglockhart to the north-east. To the north-w ...

Road and Chamberlain Road meet; on each of the corners of the crossroad is a church (although two are slightly set back.) Church Hill is the small area to the south and includes the

Church Hill Theatre Church Hill Theatre is a Category B listed pink sandstone former church and current theatre venue owned by the Edinburgh City Council. Built originally as Morningside Free Church, the council purchased it in 1960. After undergoing an extensive ...

, formerly yet another church. Beyond is Morningside, with the former parish church (formally part of

Napier University Edinburgh Napier University () is a public university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Napier Technical College, the predecessor of the university, was founded in 1964, taking its name from 16th-century Scottish mathematician and philosopher John Napie ...

, now returned to ecclesiastical use by Chalmers Church) only just beyond Church Hill. The north end of the crossroads leads into Bruntsfield Place.

Merchiston Merchiston ( ) is a residential area around Merchiston Avenue in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. Location Merchiston Avenue is southwest of the West End of Edinburgh's principal street, Princes Street. Other areas near Merchiston inc ...

is along Colinton Road to the west. The churches of Holy Corner are: Christ Church (

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 ...

), Morningside United (

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

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 ...

) and Edinburgh Elim (

Elim Pentecostal Church The Elim Pentecostal Church is a UK-based Pentecostal Christian denomination. It was founded in Ireland in 1915 by George Jeffreys and is the second-largest Pentecostal denomination in the UK. History George Jeffreys (1889–1962), a Welshm ...

) in what was formerly Morningside Baptist Church (the latter is now renamed Central Church and situated at Tollcross). The former North Morningside Parish church at Holy Corner was converted for community use in 1980 and is now called the Eric Liddell Centre after the Olympic athlete who lived locally and attended the former Morningside Congregational Church, now the home of Morningside United Church. A short distance away atop Church Hill is the Church Hill Theatre which was built as a church by Edinburgh architect

Hippolyte Blanc Hippolyte Jean Blanc (18 August 1844 – 17 March 1917) was a Scottish architect. Best known for his church buildings in the Gothic revival architecture, Gothic revival style, Blanc was also a keen antiquarian who oversaw meticulously rese ...

(who also designed Christ Church). Not far beyond that is the former Morningside Parish Church (Church of Scotland) which is now owned by Chalmers Church having been used by Napier University in the interim, the congregation having been merged with the Braid Parish Church towards the south of Morningside in the 1990. The congregation moved again in 2003 to the church on Cluny Gardens as the main centre for Morningside Parish Church. Other features in the immediate area include Napier University's Merchiston campus, which incorporates Merchiston Castle (or tower), birthplace and former home of

John Napier John Napier of Merchiston ( ; Latinisation of names, Latinized as Ioannes Neper; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8 ...

, the

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and alleged

necromancer Necromancy () is the practice of magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events and discover hidden knowledge. ...

. Merchiston Tower is also the ancient seat of

Clan Napier Clan Napier is a Lowland Scottish clan.Way, George and Squire, Romily. ''Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia''. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs). Published in 1994. pp. 288 ...

. The former site of a garden centre in the north west corner, next to a branch of the Bank of Scotland, was transformed into a compact "metropolitan" supermarket for

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

, with adjacent coffee house and furniture shop, in 2006. In 2019, the vacant Bank of Scotland building was transformed into a restaurant known as McLarens on the Corner.

Gallery

Image:Church Hill Theatre.JPG, Church Hill Theatre (former Free Church), Burghmuirhead Image:Morningside Baptist Church, Edinburgh.jpg, Morningside Baptist Church, Holy Corner Image:Former North Morningside Church, Edinburgh.jpg, Eric Liddell Centre (former North Morningside Church), Holy Corner Image:Morningside United Church, Edinburgh.jpg, Morningside United Church, Holy Corner Image:Christ Church Morningside 2.JPG, Christ Church Episcopal, Holy Corner

References

{{coord, 55, 56, 2.55, N, 3, 12, 36.97, W, display=title Areas of Edinburgh Morningside, Edinburgh

Location

See also

Gallery

References