Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time

All Books Kay's Originals Vol. 1 Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Edinburgh Past and Present Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI

Go to: « Kay's Originals Vol. 1 « Kay's Originals Vol. 2 Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time Cover Title Pages Contents List of Illustrations Preface Part 1: Historical Associations Part 1 Ch 1: Earliest Traditions Part 1 Ch 2: From The Accession of The Stuarts to the Death of James III Part 1 Ch 3: From the Accession of James IV to the Battle of Flodden Part 1 Ch 4: From the Battle of Flodden to the Death of James V Part 1 Ch 5: From the Death of James V to the Abdication of Queen Mary Part 1 Ch 6: From the Accession of James VI to the Restoration of Charles II Part 1 Ch 7: Historical Incidents after the Restoration Part 2: Local Antiquities and Traditions Part 2 Ch 1: The Castle Part 2 Ch 2: King's Stables, Castle Barns, and Castle Hill Part 2 Ch 3: The Lawnmarket Part 2 Ch 4: The Tolbooth, Luckenbooths, and Parliament Close Part 2 Ch 5: The High Street Part 2 Ch 6: The High Street and Nether Bow Part 2 Ch 7: The Canongate and Abbey Sanctuary Part 2 Ch 8: St Leonard's, St Mary's Wynd, and The Cowgate Part 2 Ch 9: The West Bow and Suburbs Part 2 Ch 10: Leith, and The New Town Part 2 Ch 11: Ecclesiastical Antiquities Appendix » Edinburgh Past and Present » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. II » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. III » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. IV » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. V » Old and New Edinburgh Vol. VI

428 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH. IIL CHURCHES. TRONCH nRcE.-The Tron Church, or Christ’s Church at the Tron, as it should be more correctly termed, ia one of two churches founded about the year 1637, in consequence of want of accommodation for the citizens in the places of worship then existing. They proceeded very slowly, impeded no doubt by the political disturbances of the period. In 1647 the Church at the Tron was so far advanced as to admit of its being used for public worship, but it was not entirely finished till 1663. On the front of the tower, over the great doorway, a large ornamental panel bears the city arms in alto ~eEieuo, and beneath them the inscription BDEM HANO CHRISTO ET ECCLESI~ SACBARUNT CIVES EDINBURQENSES, ANNO DON. MDCXLI. Some account has been given @age 260) of the changes effected on the church in opening up the southern approaches to the city, in the year 1785. It is finished internally with an open timber roof, somewhat similar to that in the Parliament House j but its effect has been greatly impaired by the shortening of the church when it was remodelled externally. In 1884 the old steeple was destroyed by fire. It wa built according to a design frequently repeated on the public buildings throughout Scotland at that period, but the examples of which are rapidly disappearing. Old St Nicholas’s Church at Leith still preserves the model on a small scale, and the tower of Glasgow College is nearly a facsimile of it. The old tower of St Mary’s Church, as engraved in our view of it, was another nearly similar, but that has been since taken down ; and a destructive fire has this year demolished another similar erection at the Town Hall, Linlithgow. The site chosen for the second of the two churches projected in 1637 was the Castle Hill, on the ground now occupied by the Reservoir. The building of the latter church was carried to a considerable extent, as appears from cfordon’s View of Edinburgh, drawn about ten years later ; but the Magistrates discovering by that time that it was much easier to project than to build such edifices, they, according to Arnot, “pulled down the unfinished church on the Caste1 Hill, and employed the materials in erecting the Tron.” There is good reason, however, for believing that Arnot is mistaken in this account of the interruption of the former building. It is unquestionable, at any rate, that at no period since the Reformation has the same zeal been manifested for religious foundations as appears to have prevailed at that period. In 1639, according to Amot, David Machall, merchant burgess of Edinburgh, left three thousand five hundred merks, or, as in the Inventar of Pious Donations, I‘ 1000 merks yearly, to maintain a chaplain in the Tron Church of Edin’ to mak Exercise every Sunday from 8 to 9 in the morning.” In 1647, Lady Yester.founded the church that bears her name ; and in 1650, Thomas Noodie, or as he is styled in Slezer‘s Theatrum Scotia, Sir Thomas Moodie of Sachtenhall, bequeathed the mm of twenty thousand merks to the Town Council, in trust, for building a church in the town, and which, after variou.3 projects for its application to different purposes, was at length made use of for providing a church for the parishioners of the Canongate, on their ejection from Holyrood Abbey by James VII. in 1687. Such does not seem to be a period when a church which had been in proopess for years, and, as would appear from Gordon’s View, was advancing towards completion, would be deliberately levelled with the ground, from the difficulty of raising the necessary funds. The following entry in the Inventar of Pious Donations, throws new light both on this and on the object of Moodie’s bequest : ‘‘ Tho’ Mudie left for the re-edyfing to the Kirk that was throwne doun by the English in the Castle Hill of E@, 40,000 merks,-but what is done fin I know not.” There is added on the margin in a later hand, seemingly that of old Robcrt Milne, circa 1700.; “ The Wigs built the Canongate Kirk yrw’.” From this it appears that the church on the Castle Hill shared the same fate as the old Weigh-house, its materials having most probably been converted into redoubts for Cromwell’s artillery, during the siege of the Castle, for which purpose they lay very conveniently at hand. In the year 1673, a bell, which cost 1490 merla and 8 shillings Scots, was hung up in the steeple, and continued weekly to summon the parishioners to church till the Great Fire of 1824, when, after han@g till it was partly melted by the heat, it fell with a tremendous crash among the blazing ruins of the steeple, Portions of it were afterwards made into quaichs and other similar memorials

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