| Canongate
Kirk, Edinburgh 17th century Click on photos to enlarge |
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Designed by James Smith (1645-1731) and opened in 1691 as the parish church of the burgh of Canongate (previously the nave of Holyrood Abbey was the parish church). ... The plan - unique among C17 Scottish churches - is a Latin cross with an aisled three-bay nave, transepts, short chancel and apse. Aisles are not surprising: they had been built at Greyfriars earlier in the C17 ... S front of ashlar, the curving skews of the aisles reaching up to the shaped gable of the nave. Roman Doric portico ... At the gallery level two round-arched windows under a circular window. Lavishly carved arms of William III at the top. Between the windows, the arms of Thomas Moodie above an inscribed tablet flanked by cherubs' heads, a deeply cut swag of fruit below. Round-headed windows in the harled flanks. No clearstorey. In the piend-roofed (Scots for hipped) transepts the windows repeat the arrangement of the gable. Two lights in the apse under a flattened dagger, all in a semi-elliptical arch. ... |
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In the church itself, round-arched nave arcades on Roman Doric columns halted by tall pilastered piers flanking the larger arches into the transepts. ... The nave ceiling, a segmental arched vault of 1817, was hidden by acoustic tiles in 1961. New Danish-built Frobenius pipe organ installed in 1998. |
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| The
churchyard was laid out in 1688. No shortage of monuments. ... Separate pages on the graves of Adam Smith and Robert Fergusson On Calton Hill in the background, the Nelson Monument and the Royal High School |
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On the wall of the west transept:
Alexander and John Runciman, erected by the Royal Scottish Academy, 1866, "in
memory of the two brothers eminent as historical painters". Examples
of their work in the National Galleries of Scotland: Alexander
Runciman, John
Runciman. |
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| John Irving, a close friend of Sir Walter Scott | Supposed grave of David Riccio (1533-66) | |||
| Kirk
website including a very detailed history |
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| Old Pictures of Canongate Church at Edinphoto | ||||
| Map | ||||
