Publication Account

Date 1981

Event ID 1018070

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1018070

Although Canongate became a vassal of Edinburgh in 1636, it remained a separate burgh and parish and the parishioners worshipped as they had done for centuries in the nave of the abbey church (RCAM, 1951, 153). In 1686, James VII took over the abbey nave for his own use and Canongate residents were thus deprived of their parish church. Temporary church accommodation was found while a new Parish church was erected on the north side of the main street of the burgh. The church, constructed in 1688, is a 'plain, inornate basilica' with an interior which is 'lofty and bare' (RCAM, 1951, 154). It includes a semi-circular presbytery on the north, a rectangular transeptal aisle to the east and west and an aisled nave to the south.

Information from ‘Historic Edinburgh, Canongate and Leith: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1981).