St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh
No trip to Edinburgh is complete without a visit to St Giles' Cathedral, the best bit is it's dog friendly too!
Now this is quite the big site and is massively popular for tourists, but we'd recommend the visit just to see a bit of the city's history, but walking past it and taking in the stunning architecture works just as well!
The cathedral was founded in 1124 by King David I (although this is under dispute) as the Scottish Church and Rome became closer. The site was chosen on the eastern edge of the city and the building predates the majority of Old Town as permission wasn't given by King David I to build houses nearby St Giles until Holyrood Abbey was established. This turn of events created the Canongate Burgh and formed what we know as the Royal Mile. Some believe it was King David's brother, King Alexander I who founded the church before his death the same year, but he was succeeded by David and the plans were carried through by him. Regardless, it was the King at the time who founded the church of St Giles.
1320 brought damage to St Giles. The Scots had signed the Declaration of Arbroath which confirmed to the Pope that Scotland was its own country and independent from England. King Edward II then sent an army to cause damage in 1322, Edinburgh was raided and the small Romanesque church of St Giles was fire damaged along with much of the city. This then happened again sixty-three years later when King Richard II sent an army to destroy St Giles along with other Scottish churches as a retaliation to the secret plotting within St Giles between the Scots and the French to raid England. Most of the building again survived with fire damage that was still seen until the 19th century, but the church was restored by Edinburgh merchants.
The church that once was St Giles expanded in 1466 after Pope Paul II granted for it to become a Collegiate church. It was petitioned twice for this to happen but ignored until the prestigious status was finally bestowed by the Pope. It seems the church escaped much other controversy or damage until 1558 during the St Giles' Day Riot. Protestantism had begun to grow within Scotland and naturally there was some difficulties with the Catholic community when this arose as Scotland was a Catholic nation. However it was the Prostestants causing the issue on this occasion when they stole the statue of St Giles and threw it into the Nor' Loch which was not the most sanitary place and caused much offence. They then infiltrated the traditional parade and it was chaos.
A year later John Knox became the minister of St Giles. Originally a Scottish priest, he was exiled after converting to Protestantism in the 1540s, but on his return to Scotland he marched an army of his followers into St Giles and preached. A week later he was elected as minister and the building was no longer a Catholic church. Famously adverse to Mary Queen of Scots, Knox made it his mission to convert the country and have her fall from her throne (he wasn't much for women either). 1560 brought the decree that Scotland was now a Protestant country and stained glass windows were removed as well as the last 400 years of Catholic history.
It was in 1637 that St Giles became a Cathedral and it wasn't without trouble that this decision was made. In 1603 the Union of the Crowns was brought which meant Scotland and England had the same monarch. King Charles I wanted to make the Scottish church fall inline with England too which was Anglican unlike the Presbyterian Scots. Things finally came to a head when the king attempted to change the prayer book along with the new status of Cathedral, Jenny Geddes was so outraged she picked up her stool and flung it at the preacher which started a riot. Services were suspended for a week after that our of fear of further uprising.
Minimal changes came after this. A prisoner was taken and held in St Giles in 1638 when the National Covenant was signed. Sir John Gordon of Haddo was held prisoner in a room above the North Porch which then became known as Haddo's Hole and then in 1700 bells were installed which rnag when the 1707 Act of Union took place to the tune of 'Why Should I Be So Sad On My Wedding Day?' which pretty much summed up how the people of Scotland felt of the union at the time, and many still do all these years later.
1872 brought renovation. St Giles had been split to accommodate different church congregations since the reformation and was a bit worse for wear, not to mention it was still showing damage from the last invasion. The Lord Provost of Edinburgh, William Chambers, set about refurbishing and so the scorch marks were scrubbed from the pillars, the walls plastered and new tiles placed on the floor. He envisioned a grand cathedral to hold ceremonies and so he made it happen. Further work took place in 1911 when the Thistle Chapel was built and it became home to the Knights of the Thistle. In 1985 more add ons were installed. The Robert Burns Memorial Window was placed above the entrance way when a long held complaint was finally seen to. The complaint was that Edinburgh did not have a sufficient memorial to the poet and so the cathedral agreed to install a stained glass window in his honour.
Of course St Giles has been a mostly peaceful observer during history, surviving the odd raid and taking part in a riot. It has also witnessed its fair share of religious conflict, but from 1638 it also witnessed some quite gory bloodshed.
Following the signing of the National Covenant, there were still suspicions of more conflict which wouldn't quite go away. Our key players here are James Graham the 1st Marquis of Montrose and Archibald Campbell the 1st Marquis of Argyll. Archibald was of the Covenanters and Graham suspected him of plotting against the king, so he led an army in support of the king and managed to intercept the Covenanters three times in 1644/5, but he was then captured and hanged outside of St Giles in 1650. Graham's head was stuck on a pike outside of the cathedral and his limbs removed and sent to the other leading towns in the Scottish conflict to be displayed as a warning.
But Campbell had changed sides in 1649 and he became a royalist supporter, but no doubt revelled in the death of his enemy. This didn't last for long though as he soon joined Ollie Cromwell and again fought against the Royalists.
Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660 following Charles I's execution and Oliver Cromwell's whole era. He ordered for Graham's body to be reassembled and given a state funeral at St Giles, Campbell was then charged with treason a year later and was beheaded outside St Giles. His head was displayed on the same Tolbooth spike as Graham's was and displayed outside of the cathedral for the next three years. It was then removed and buried beside his body in his family mausoleum.
When Queen Victoria visited the cathedral in 1886 she asked why there wasn't a memorial for the Marquis of Montrose, he was seen as quite a romantic figure and as a supporter of the royals he mattered to them. A monument was then placed above his burial site in the 17th century style.
Nine years later it was heavily petitioned that his enemy, Campbell, should also have a memorial within St Giles. This was agreed as the cathedral was a place of reconciliation, so the Marquis of Argyll got a similar memorial on the opposite side of the cathedral in 1895, funnily enough on the 234th date of his execution. We think that perhaps he was favoured by the people (pure speculation!) as his memorial seems slightly grander than that of Montrose.
Only one congregation out of the four that used to worship here still does, but aside from that the cathedral is open to all for a moment of reflection and for visiting for the curious. It operates on a donation basis but is otherwise free and it also has a cute little giftshop.
The site is quite a large one and it did have its own graveyard, this is now the carpark beside it. Those who were not relocated remain entombed under the tarmac including the misogynistic John Knox who now has a plaque telling you what carparking bay he occupies.
We enjoyed our afternoon visit here after Calum had shown us around externally, we were knackered for sure, but the cathedral is a calm space and therefore allowed exploration at our own pace. It didn't seem as big as Canterbury Cathedral or even Gloucester, but as our first cathedral visit as a family it was quite enough for us. More gothic in aesthetic than any others we'd seen, but it was a good spot to soak in all that history even if it was quite bloody!
Haunted? Stupid question really, two men were executed on the doorstep, not to mention any other deaths over the years. The site is regularly associated with ghost stories and these can be heard on various tours of Edinburgh, we'd like to hear them ourselves so we look forward to sharing them with you towards the end of the year!
The giftshop was also lovely, it has been a while since we've been able to talk about a giftshop. On sale is various trinkets and souvenirs as well as the delicacy Tablet and religious items.
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