St Paul's and St George's Church

St Paul's and St George's Church (known colloquially as "Ps and Gs") is an evangelical[1] church of the Scottish Episcopal Church in central Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located on the corner of Broughton Street and York Place in the east end of Edinburgh's New Town, and is protected as a category A listed building.[2]

St Paul's and St George's Church
St Paul's and St George's Church
St Paul's and St George's Church
Location in Edinburgh
55°57′24.47″N 3°11′18.81″W
LocationEdinburgh
CountryScotland
DenominationScottish Episcopal Church
ChurchmanshipEvangelical
Websitepsandgs.org.uk
History
Former name(s)St Paul's Chapel
Architecture
Heritage designationCategory A listed building
Designated1966
Architect(s)Archibald Elliot
StyleGothic Revival nave-and-aisle
Years built1816-1818
Administration
DioceseEdinburgh
ProvinceScotland
Clergy
RectorDavid Richards

The building was erected as St Paul's Church, replacing a chapel in the Cowgate. It was designed by Archibald Elliot between 1816 and 1818, and was extended by Peddie and Kinnear in the 1890s.[2] In 1932 the congregation merged with that of St George's Church, also located on York Place. The York Place tram stop is near to the church building. The east window is by Francis Eginton of Birmingham.[3]

The church recently undertook a £5.6 million building project in order to expand the church and improve facilities. During renovation the congregation temporarily met in the Pollock Halls of Residence.

History
The former St George's Chapel, York Place (closed 1932)

In 18th-century Edinburgh, Episcopalians met for worship in small chapels around the city. There were three Non-Juror Chapels, and three Qualified Chapels. The Juror congregation of St Paul's began to meet in 1708 in Half Moon Close, led by Rector Robert Blair who had been licensed by the Bishop of Aberdeen. The church was later made a Collegiate church and in 1722 the congregation moved to new premises in Blackfriars Wynd. In 1774 the church moved again to a chapel on the Cowgate, where it remained until Archibald Elliot's new church on York Place was built in 1818.[4][5] The first rectors of the new church were the clergyman and writer Archibald Alison, and Robert Morehead.[6]

An Episcopalian chapel already existed on York Place, St George's, built in 1794 by James Adam. In 1932 the two neighbouring congregations amalgamated at St Paul's, which was renamed St Paul's and St George's Church. The old St George's Church was closed and the building is now in use as a casino.[7]

In the later years of the 20th century, numbers attending St Paul's and St George's had dwindled. In 1985, the Bishop of Edinburgh Alastair Haggart installed Rev Roger Simpson as rector and members from the Evangelical Episcopal Church of St Thomas in Corstorphine came to the York Place church. Within 10 years, the church congregation had grown significantly as a result of the change in churchmanship to a more Evangelical style.[8]

Rectors

Past rectors of St Paul's (and later St Paul's and St George's) Church have included:[4][6]

  • Archibald Alison (1818-)
  • Robert Morehead (1818-)
  • William Henderson Begg (1932-34)
  • Theodore Edgar Keyden (1934-37)
  • Claude Philip Moor (1938-45)
  • William Benjamin Harvey (1945-55)
  • Thomas Veitch (1956-84)
  • Roger Westgarth Simpson (1985-95)
  • Michael Peter Maudsley (1995-)
  • David Richards

Architecture
Archibald Elliot's St Paul's Chapel (prior to the 1892 extension)

St Paul's and St George's Church is a noted structure in the early part of Edinburgh's New Town, and stands out as one of the few Gothic Revival buildings in an area largely made up of Georgian Neoclassical architecture. The Scottish architect Archibald Elliot began work on the new church of St Paul in 1816. Designing it in a Perpendicular style on a nave-and-aisle floorplan, he modelled the building on King's College Chapel, Cambridge, complete with crocketted pinnacles and buttresses and four octagonal turrets on the corners, inspired by those on St Mary's Church, Beverley in Yorkshire. The exterior sandstone is richly decorated with Gothic strapwork and topped with a crenellated parapet.[2][9][6]

The interior consists of a long nave flanked by tall aisles and arched stone columns. On the north wall is a stone tabernacle topped with a Gothic ogee arch, designed by David Bryce. There are marble monuments by Scottish sculptors Sir John Steell and David Watson Stevenson.[2]

In 1891-2, the east end of the church was extended by Peddie and Kinnear, turning the original chancel into a choir. The renovating architects also added a rib-vaulted south east porch, installed new furnishings and removed the aisle galleries.[2]

A growing congregation created a need to accommodate a larger number of worshippers, and in the early 21st century a project was undertaken by Lee Boyd architects to renovate the church. New glass-fronted aisle galleries were constructed, re-instating the interior balconies removed in the 1890s and doubling the capacity of the church. A steel and glass entrance pavilion was also constructed outside the west door, and the church hall was demolished and replaced.[10][11]

Architectural elements
  • Elliot's octagonal turrets on St Paul's and St George's
  • The east window of Peddie and Kinnear's 1892 extension
  • Octagonal turrets on St Mary' Beverley
  • The nave-and-aisle chapel at King's College, Cambridge
  • St George's Chapel, York Place, now a casino

Notable members

References

Citations
  1. http://welcome.psandgs.org.uk/
  2. Historic Environment Scotland. "York Place and 8 Broughton Street, St Paul's and St George's (Scottish Episcopal) Church, including Lamp and Railings  (Category A Listed Building) (LB27509)". Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  3. Grant's O;ld and New Edinburgh vol 111
  4. Bertie, David (2000). Scottish Episcopal Clergy, 1689-2000. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 574. ISBN 978-0-567-08746-1. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  5. Wilson, Ruth Mack (1996). Anglican Chant and Chanting in England, Scotland, and America, 1660 to 1820. Clarendon Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-19-816424-1. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  6. Storer & Storer 1820, p. 311.
  7. "5b York Place, Former St George's Chapel (Episcopal), Including Railings and Lamps, Edinburgh, Edinburgh". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  8. Goodhew, David (2017). Church Growth in Britain: 1980 to the Present. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-95161-6. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  9. Gifford, John; McWilliam, Colin; Walker, David; Wilson, Christopher (1991). The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh. Yale University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-300-09672-9. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  10. "St Pauls & St Georges Church, Broughton, Edinburgh". www.edinburgharchitecture.co.uk. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  11. "Refurbishment of St Paul's & St George's Church". www.rias.org.uk. Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. Retrieved 12 June 2020.

Sources
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