Tron Kirk
It was late on our last night in Edinburgh that we wandered into Tron Kirk as it was hosting a very festive little market of homemade goodies. Obviously we had to include it in our blog, but with an obscure name like Tron it stood to reason that we researched it as soon as possible.
Turns out the name Tron comes from the weighing beam that once stood outside the church and serviced the market that took place on the Royal Mile. The word is Scottish for weighing beam in the event that wasn't clear, and thus the name stuck for the building behind it, it is just as well as the church still stands whereas the beam does not, it was removed in 1800.
The Tron, as referred to as by locals, but christened as Christs' Kirk at the Tron, was given the go ahead by King Charles I when he decided that St Giles was to be made into a cathedral (which was not well received). So John Mylne was brought on board to design a new church to replace St Giles' Church so that the south-east parish could worship as the north-west had St Giles. Work took place between 1636 and 1647. Mylne mixed Palladian and Gothic styles in order to get the structure you see today, and took great inspiration from contemporary Dutch architecture to make it stand out from the church it was replacing a mere stones throw away. However, not all aspects of Mylne's original design still stand today, alterations have been made over the years to make way for expansions within the streets of Edinburgh as well as damage from the Great Edinburgh Fire of 1824 which destroyed the original spire. This was replaced by R & R Dickson four years later.
In terms of gory history, the church was witness to an act of blasphemy by the last person in Scotland to be executed for such a crime. In 1697, and 18 year old Thomas Aikenhead remarked to his friends 'I wish I were in that place Ezra calls hell so I could warm myself'. He said this as he passed the church, drunk, and it was a fellow student who dobbed him in for the act. This throw away comment, unfortunately said outside of the house of God cost him his life.
In 1952 the church closed for good (as a place of worship) and the congregation moved to a new church in the Moredun area. The site was then taken over by the local council and left to rot after the interior was ripped out. However, 1974 brought an archaeological discovery from under the church. Foundations of a 16th century building from Marlins Wynd (which hadn't existed for some time) were found and therefore the kirk once again became a place of interest. From then onward further investigations and excavations took place and it was found that the site was originally occupied by tenements before the church was built. These dated back to the late 15th century and into the 16th and were named to be Marlin's Wynd, Peebles Wynd, and Taverner's Close.
When they excavated in 1974 they removed the entire floor and the site was left open for public viewing as visible urban archaeology. They'd used tactics similar to that of Pompeii by placing a walkway around the perimeter. However, the floor was replaced in 2004 when the building was finally repurposed.
Aside from the new glimpse of history found, the church still stood empty for over 50 years until it was used as a tourist information centre in the early noughties. However, the old church is traditionally the place of gathering to celebrate Hogmanay thanks to its high spired chiming clock. This stopped for a little while due to council interference as other plans were made, but in 2012 its claim to fame at this time of year was reinstated.
Surprisingly, the church doesn't have protected status and wasn't taken over by the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust (who luckily stepped in) until 2021. They were granted a 125 year lease on the building and were able to restore and repurpose the site. When we visited it was being used as a little market and had lots of touristy leaflets so we are pleased to see it being an active member of the community within all the trinket shops and pubs on the Royal Mile.
Is it haunted though? We would hazard a guess that Mr Aikenhead is probably still lurking around the site, heavily regretting his choice of words, but otherwise no. There was nothing but the warm welcoming interior inviting us in that was of note for this one, so we'd still recommend a visit just because of the hidden history underneath!
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