Interior-general view of Thistle Chapel

Description Interior-general view of Thistle Chapel

Date 1911 to 1912

Collection Records of Bedford Lemere and Company, photographers, London, England

Catalogue Number BL 21477

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies B 64784, SC 717160

Scope and Content Knights' Stalls, Thistle Chapel, St Giles' Cathedral, High Street, Edinburgh, from the south-east The Thistle Chapel, the most ornate building of its kind to be erected in Scotland since the Middle Ages, was designed by the architect, Sir Robert Lorimer, and built in 1909-11 at St Giles' Cathedral as the private chapel for the Knights of the Thistle, the most ancient Order of Chivalry in Scotland. The architectural photographer, Harry Bedford Lemere, was commissioned to photograph the interior c.1912. The six knights' stalls on the north side of the chapel were carved in oak by the wood carvers, William & Alexander Clow. Each stall has an elaborate pinnacled canopy borne on slim, twisted columns. A sword hangs in front of the spire of each canopy, and a mantled and crested coronet is set on top. On the elbows of the seats of each stall are carved beasts taken from the armorial bearings of each knight. The Order of the Thistle, Scotland's great order of chivalry, has roots back to the Middle Ages, but the order was revived in 1687 by King James VII. The chapel contains stalls for 16 knights, a sovereign's stall and two royal stalls. Recent knights have included the former prime minister, Sir Alex Douglas Home, Lord Mackay of Clashfern and the Duke of Buccleuch. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Medium Glass

External Reference Box 62

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/329436