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Publication Account
Date 1951
Event ID 1095705
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1095705
5. St. Patrick's Church, South Gray's Close (40 High Street).
Although the postal address is given as 40 High Street, this church faces the Cowgate as it stands near the foot of the E. side of South Gray's Close, on a site purchased from the Royal College of Physicians. Built between 1771 and 1774 to house the united congregations of three Episcopalian chapels, it was acquired for the Roman Catholic communion in 1856. As first laid out the building was oblong on plan with the major axis running N. and S., but an apse containing a Venetian window projected from the E. side. There were two tiers of windows on each side of the church, the lower ones having segmental heads while those above were round-arched. At either end there was to have been a portico, the one to the S. pillared and supporting a pediment, with a tower behind it; but by the time that the tower had been built funds had run out and the construction of the porticoes had consequently to be deferred. A S. portico in the form of a Renaissance façade has now been added to the fabric, and for the N. portico a second apse has been substituted. A porch has also been built out on the W. side. The building as a whole is plain, the tower (Fig. 11 [SC 1225709]) being the best part of it. Built of ashlar, this rises above the roof in two square tiers to an octagonal bell-chamber surmounted by a lead-covered dome and fleche. Within the bell-chamber once hung a bell from Holyrood (cf. p. 136), since removed to St. Paul’s, York Place. The church is equally plain inside, decoration being confined to the apses, where the altars stand. On the original apse there are six paintings; the subjects cannot be seen for want of light, but five of them are probably the original paintings by Runciman, a native artist, representing respectively The Ascension, Christ addressing the woman of Samaria, the return of the Prodigal, Moses, and Elijah. Above the gallery on the S. wall is a good contemporary organ.
RCAHMS 1951, visited c.1941
