Greyfriars Kirk () is a parish church of the Church of Scotland, located in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is surrounded by Greyfriars Kirkyard.
Greyfriars traces its origin to the south-west parish of Edinburgh, founded in 1598. Initially, this congregation met in the western portion of St Giles'. The church is named for the Franciscans or "Grey Friars," who arrived in Edinburgh from the Netherlands in the mid-15th century and were granted land for a Catholic friary at the south-western edge of the burgh.
In the wake of the Scottish Reformation, the grounds of the abandoned friary were repurposed as a cemetery, in which the current church was constructed between 1602 and 1620. In 1638, the National Covenant was first signed in the Kirk. The church was damaged during the Protectorate, when it was used as barracks by troops under Oliver Cromwell. In 1718, an explosion destroyed the church tower. During the reconstruction, the church was partitioned to hold two congregations: Old Greyfriars and New Greyfriars. In 1845, fire ravaged Old Greyfriars. After its reconstruction, the minister, Robert Lee, introduced the first organ and stained glass windows in a Scottish parish church since the Reformation. In 1929, Old and New Greyfriars united and the church was restored as one sanctuary. In the following years, the depopulation of the Old Town saw Greyfriars unite with a number of neighbouring congregations.
The church of Greyfriars is a simple aisled nave of eight bays; the style is Survival Gothic fused with Baroque elements. The church initially consisted of six bays and a west tower. After the explosion of 1718 destroyed the tower, Alexander McGill added two new bays and a Palladian north porch to create one building divided into two churches of four bays each. After it was gutted by fire in 1845, David Cousin rebuilt Old Greyfriars with an open, un-aisled interior. Between 1932 and 1938, the interior and arcades were restored by Henry F. Kerr. Notable features of the church include historic stained glass windows by James Ballantine; the 17th century monument to Margaret, Lady Yester; and an original copy of the National Covenant of 1638.
Since the 18th century, the congregations of Greyfriars have been notable for their missionary work within the parish. This continues to the present day through the church's work with the Grassmarket Community Project and the Greyfriars Charteris Centre. Greyfriars holds weekly Gaelic services, maintaining a tradition of Gaelic worship in Edinburgh that goes back to the beginning of the 18th century.
History Edinburgh's Grey Friars Catholic friars of the Observatine Franciscans first came to Scotland in 1447 at the invitation of James I. The six friars, including one Scot, arrived from the Low Countries under the leadership of Cornelius of Zierikzee. They settled at the corner of the Grassmarket and Candlemaker Row in either 1453 or 1458.Historic Environment Scotland NT27SE 22 In 1464, the Provost of St Giles' granted the Chapel of St John outwith the West Port to Friar Crannok, Warden of the Grey Friars. The fate of this chapel is unknown.Bryce 1912, p. 11.
The friary enjoyed royal patronage and connections: it hosted Mary of Guelders on her arrival in Edinburgh in 1449 and sheltered Henry VI of England during his exile.Bryce 1912, pp. 14–15 James IV was particularly close to the Edinburgh Grey Friars: he appointed himself the Observatines' "Royal Protector" and Friar Ranny, Warden of the Edinburgh Grey Friars, served as the King's confessor.Bryce 1912, pp. 16–18. By the middle of the 16th century, there were always fifty to sixty friars resident.Bryce 1912, p. 15.
The friary was first caught up in the Scottish Reformation in 1558: Reformers stole the statue of Saint Giles from the burgh church and the Greyfriars loaned their statue of the saint for use in the Saint Giles' Day procession on 1 September that year. The statue was damaged when Reformers broke up the procession.Bryce 1912, p. 25. When news reached Edinburgh of the advance of the Lords of the Congregation on 28 June 1559, Lord Seton, Provost of Edinburgh, abandoned his commitment to protect the Grey Friars, leaving their Friary to be ransacked by a mob. The friars sheltered among their allies in the city.Bryce 1912, p. 26. In the summer of 1560, Scotland's Observantine Franciscans, including all but one or two of the Edinburgh Grey Friars, left the country for the Netherlands: these exiles numbered about eighty friars and were led by the Provincial Minister, John Patrick.Bryce 1912, pp. 27–28.
Beginnings
By 1565, all the buildings of the Friary had been removed and their stones carried away for use in the construction of the New Tolbooth and to repair St Giles' and its kirkyard walls.Bryce 1912, p. 30. The kirkyard of St Giles' was, by then, overcrowded and Mary, Queen of Scots had, in 1562, given the grounds of the Friary to the town council to use as a burial ground.Dunlop 1988, p. 74.
The congregation of Greyfriars can trace its origin to a 1584 edict of the town council to divide Edinburgh into four parishes. This created a south-west parish with the intention it would meet in the central section of St Giles'. This edict does not appear to have been enforced until 1598, when the south-west parish was allocated to the Upper Tolbooth partition at the west end of St Giles'. Robert Rollock and Peter Hewat were appointed the first ministers.Dunlop 1988, p. 78.
By the end of the 16th century, St Giles' could no longer accommodate Edinburgh's growing population. In 1599, the town council had discussed and abandoned proposals to construct a new church in the grounds of Kirk o' Field (around modern-day Chambers Street). In 1601, the council decided to build a new church in the southern part of the Greyfriars burying ground. Construction commenced in 1611, using material from the Convent of Catherine of Siena at Sciennes. A merchant, Thomas Watsoun, bought timber from Sweden for the roof in 1612. Two of his ships were captured by Christian IV of Denmark who was then at war with Sweden.Original Letters Relating To Ecclesiastical Affairs, 1 (Edinburgh, 1851), p. 202.
The Kirk was first used on 18 February 1619 for the funeral of the William Couper, Bishop of Galloway; John Spottiswoode, Archbishop of St Andrews, preached the funeral sermon.Bryce 1912, p. 40. Congregational worship was first held on Christmas Day 1620.Steele 1993, p. 5. Though this was a Monday, the minister, Patrick Galloway, chose to hold the service on Christmas Day to curry favour with James VI, who disapproved of the radical Reformers' opposition to holy days.Steele 1993, p. 9.Bryce 1912, pp. 40–41.
Covenant and conflict
At the establishment of the Diocese of Edinburgh in 1633, the ministers of Greyfriars were placed on the list of prebendaries of St Giles' Cathedral. In 1637, Charles I attempted to impose a Service Book on the Church of Scotland. On 23 July that year, James Fairlie read the new service book in Greyfriars: this caused a tumult, in which Fairlie exchanged curses with the women of the congregation.Bryce 1912, p. 52. Fairlie's colleague, Andrew Ramsay, refused to read the Service Book the following Sunday and was deposed by royal authority.Gray 1940, p. 34.Bryce 1912, p. 53.
The events of 23 July mirrored a similar incident and riot at St Giles' on the same day. Resistance to Charles and William Laud's interference in the Scottish church resulted in the National Covenant. The Covenant was first read by Archibald Johnston of Warriston from the pulpit of Greyfriars; Scotland's nobility and gentry then signed the Covenant inside the church. Copies of the Covenant were carried throughout Edinburgh and Leith to be signed by the masses.Bryce 1912, p. 88. The formation and subsequent ascendancy of the Covenanters led to the Bishops' Wars, the first conflict of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
In 1650, as troops of Oliver Cromwell approached Edinburgh, all able-bodied men of the town were ordered to assemble in the kirkyard. Cromwell took the city after the defeat of the Covenanters at Dunbar and, between 1650 and 1653, Cromwell's troops occupied the church as a cavalry barracks and caused significant damage.Steele 1993, p. 6.Gray 1940, p. 36. Cromwell himself may have preached in Greyfriars.Steele 1993, p. 11. In 1656, the church was divided by a partition wall in anticipation of the creation of two new parishes in Edinburgh; this never happened and the partition was removed in 1662.
In 1660, General Monck announced in Greyfriars his intention to march south in support of the Restoration. After the Restoration, episcopacy was re-established in the Church of Scotland: this led to a new period of rebellion for the Covenanters. Robert Traill, the covenanting minister of Greyfriars, was forced into exile and Covenanters were imprisoned in a field adjoining the kirkyard after the Battle of Bothwell Brig in 1679. After the Glorious Revolution, Presbyterian polity was re-established in the Church of Scotland. William Carstares, who had served as chaplain and adviser to William II, served as minister of Greyfriars between 1703 and 1707.Steele 1993, p. 11.
Destruction and reconstruction: 1718–1843 From 1706, the town council used the tower at the west end of Greyfriars as a gunpowder store; this exploded at around 1.45 a.m. on Sunday, 7 May 1718, destroying the tower and severely damaging the west end of the church.RCAHMS 1951, p. 46. The congregation met in the chapel of George Heriot's School and the "Lower Commonhall" of the University of Edinburgh while the church was repaired.Bryce 1912, pp. 135–136.
Alexander McGill oversaw repairs to the church. A new wall was erected to enclose the eastern four bays within a month of the explosion. Two new bays were added to the west end: this created a church divided into two equal halves. The work was completed by 31 December 1722 and the costs were met by a local duty on ale.Steele 1993, p. 7.Bryce 1912, p. 137. The following autumn, the town council ordered the formation of a new congregation to occupy the western half of the Kirk and William Robertson was elected its first minister: this was known Wester Greyfriars then as New Greyfriars.Dunlop 1988, p. 84. The original congregation met in the eastern half and became known as Old Greyfriars.Dunlop 1988, pp. 78–79. From the schools' foundations to the late 19th century, New Greyfriars contained lofts for the pupils of the Merchant Maiden Hospital and George Heriot's School, who had moved from Old Greyfriars; after 1871, the pupils of George Watson's College also attended services in the church.Dunlop 1988, p. 84.Steele 1993, p. 12.Bryce 1912, p. 138.
In 1840, St John's Church on Victoria Street was formed from the parish of Old Greyfriars; the minister of the second charge in Old Greyfriars, Thomas Guthrie, became the first minister of St John's. At the Disruption of 1843, John Sym, the minister Old Greyfriars, left to join the Free Church; although many of his congregation left with him, all the elders remained.Steele 1993, p. 13.Bryce 1912, p. 145
Fire and the "Greyfriars Revolution" On 19 January 1845, a boiler flue overheated, causing a fire that gutted Old Greyfriars and damaged the roof and furnishings of New Greyfriars. As it happened soon after the Disruption of 1843, some suggested the fire was divine judgement on the established church. Hugh Miller unsuccessfully argued the congregations should move to St John's Church on Victoria Street and leave Greyfriars as a scenic ruin. The majority of the town council's members had joined the Free Church and their attempts to frustrate the restoration were one of the reasons it ended up taking twelve years.Bryce 1912, p. 147. The congregation temporarily decamped to the Tolbooth Kirk.