Publication Account
Date 1951
Event ID 1096129
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1096129
217. St. Mary's Church, Kirkgate.
St. Mary's was originally a chapel attached to the collegiate church of Restalrig (No. 220 [NT27SE 103]). In 1609, however, the King and Parliament ‘understanding that the kirk of Restalrig Is ruynous and that the kirk of leith hes bene the place of Convening of the parochineris of Restalrig the space of fyftie yearis past As alsua that it is maist comodious pairt In respect that the toun of leith Is the greatest pairt of the said parochin’ declared ‘the said Kirk of Leith to be ane paroch Kirk . . . And that the benefice of Restalrig personage their of gleib and manse pertening their to shall be alwayes disponit to the minister serveing the cure at the said kirk of leith . . . And that the said kirk of Restalrig be suppressed and extinct frome henceforth and forevir"(1). Fifty years before this date the original cruciform building had been reduced to its nave. Between 1650 and 1657 the place was used by the Cromwellian troops as a magazine pending the completion of the Citadel, and the congregation had to petition General Monk for its restoration to ecclesiastical uses (2). The fabric was entirely renewed in 1848 and to-day is therefore virtually modern, although the W. piers of the original crossing are still to be seen in the vestibules at the E. end of the building.
To the capital of the N. pier is affixed part of a tombstone, inscribed I K M M 1674, while part of another, inscribed I B 1690, is attached to the S. pier.* The floor of these vestibules is paved with other old grave-slabs, dating from the 16th century onwards, which have been broken up for the purpose. One slab, for example, bearing across-shaft and slight traces of an indecipherable marginal inscription, forms the threshold of the W. vestibule. Another, dated 1585, can be seen similarly employed at the E. door-; its marginal inscription, again too much worn to be legible, encloses a shield which is flanked by two sets of initials, D V and [?] V, and charged: Per pale, dexter, a bend, on a chief a mascle between two crescents, probably for David Vaus who died in 1586; sinister, on a fess between three mascles, three crescents, for Wardlaw. At the W. end of the church there seem to be other stones beneath the covering of the floor. On the walls of the church are displayed carvings of the insignia of some of the trade incorporations-a hammer and crown for the Hammermen; the shears of the Tailors, accompanied by the date 1659; and the rounding-knife of the Cordiners with the date 1550. Two panels exhibiting the Royal Arms are built into the outer side of the modern W. tower. The N. one, which originally occupied a position on the front of St. James' Hospital, is arranged within the Garter, as follows: 1st and 4th grand quarters, Scotland, 2nd grand quarter, France quartering England, 3rd grand quarter, Ireland, for James VI and I. The one to the W. bears the initials C(arolus) R(ex)I and is arranged thus within the Order of the Thistle :1st and 4th, Scotland, 2nd, England, 3rd, Ireland. This panel was carved in preparation for a visit paid by Charles I in 1633 ; the Royal pew was restored at this time but it is no longer extant.
Two more heraldic achievements are built into the inside of the tower. The larger one came from the old Tolbooth of Leith, which was built in Tolbooth Wynd in 1664 and was demolished in 1819; it represents the Royal Arms of Scotland with supporters and crest, accompanied by the initials M(aria) R(egina). Below the shield appears the badge of the Order of the Thistle, and below this• again a panel bearing the motto and date IN DEFENS1565. The smaller achievement, which came from an old house at the corner of Quality Wynd,**demolished in 1878, has a panel at the top inscribed MARIA DE LORAINE/ REGINA SCOTII (sic) 1560. Below this a finely carved garland of oak-leaves encircles a shield ensigned with a crown and charged: Per pale, dexter,. the Royal Arms of Scotland, for King James V; sinister, a label of three points in chief, quarterly, 1st, harry of eight for Hungary, 2nd, semee of fleurs-de-lys, a label of three points for Naples, 3rd, a cross potent for Jerusalem, 4th,four pallets for Aragon, 5th, semee of fleurs-de-lys within a bordure for Anjou, 6th, a lion rampant contourné, crowned and langued for Gueldres,7th, a lion rampant, crowned and langued for Flanders, 8th, semee of cross-crosslets fitchy, two barbels endorsed for Bar ; on an inescutcheon en surtout : on a bend, three eaglets displayed for Lorraine, the whole representing Queen Marie de Guise-Lorraine. In the same compartment are suspended the old parish jougs, which were originally fixed to the front of the tower. Part of the carved oak cornice of a pew, inscribed 16 FOR THE CRAIGEND 56, is affixed to the N. wall of the church.*** Beside the W. entrance to the churchyard some fragments of one of the original 15th-century windows have been set up. Another window, said to have been of six lights with tracery above, which had been removed in the "restoration" and re-erected in a garden, was transferred in 1911 to St. Conan's Church, near the head of Loch Awe, and placed in the chapel that commemorates King Robert the Bruce.
[See RCAHMS 1951, 251 for a description of the silver and brass Plate].
TOMBSTONES.
There are no pre-Reformation stones left in the churchyard. The oldest of the surviving memorials is a small headstone with a shaped pediment containing on one side a book and on the other an hour-glass flanked by the date 1656 and the initials of A(lexander) A(bercromby), with a label below on which the admonition MEMENTO MORI can just be deciphered. The inscription on the body of the stone is quite illegible. Such stones were fashionable until the middle of the following century.
RCAHMS 1951, visited c.1941
1 Acts Parl. Scot., iv, p. 442, No. 25. 2 P.S.A.S., i (1851-4), pp. 158-68.
*The first of these is apparently a portion of the monument of James Kendal, "skipper in Leith," who died in March 1674, although an entry of 1668 in the Edinburgh Sasines gives his wife's name as Alison Gibsone. The second is undoubtedly the monument of Captain James Burnet, also " skipper in Leith," who died on February 26, 1690. In 1704 both monuments were "within the Church of South Leith " (Monteith, An Theater of Mortality, pp. 69 f.).
**This house was long known as " Mary of Guise's House," but the mansion of the Queen-Regent, which was immediately adjacent, had been removed in the early 18th century.
***Craigend was the district of Calton Hill.
