The lost Trinity College and Moray Knox Church, Edinburgh
Dr DJ Johnston-Smith
Director, Scotland’s Churches Trust
In preparation for Dr Lizzie Swarbrick’s talk next week on the incredible history of Edinburgh’s medieval Trinity Apse, I have been having a quick delve into the history of the, now lost, adjacent, Victorian building, latterly know as the Trinity College and Moray Knox Church.
Lizzie will be telling us all about the reconstructed medieval apse that formed this new church’s rear hall and its amazing history, so I won’t dwell on that story here. But, given the ongoing heritage crisis precipitated by the closure of hundreds of Scottish churches, I wanted to know more about the long-gone Victorian neo-Gothic church at the front.
Designed by Scottish architect John Lessels (1809-1883), work began on its construction in 1871 and, after some delays due to protracted negotiations with the town council, it finally opened for its first service on 14 Oct 1877.
I was absolutely delighted to discover, among my collection of magic lantern slides that an image of the church, not long after it opened, was captured in the background of a slide of the Calton Jail.
The completed church cost £10,000 to build and apparently it seated 900. Lessels effectively reconstructed a giant medieval jigsaw puzzle at the rear of his building, when rebuilding the apse, and attempted to reproduce several architectural features of the original Trinity Church at the front of his new building.
Its principal entrance on Jeffrey Street, with deeply moulded doorway and “arch of Norman Gothic pattern” was a reproduction of the one that had appeared in the old church.
The new church’s octagonal broached spire was 115 ft high and topped with a gilded weathervane. Its large sanctuary had a gallery around three of its sides, supported by iron pillars topped by foliated capitals. Its “handsome pulpit” was also modelled on that of the old church and it contained some furniture and incorporated various fragments of the ancient building. Three large stained glass memorial windows were already donated, created and installed by the opening day, with space for many others.
The first service was led by Rev Cornelius Giffen, who had been minister of Trinity College Church, before taking up his post at St Mary’s Parish Church in Bellevue. At the close of his sermon, he pointed to the elephant in the room – congregational anger at the incredibly LONG delay between the demolition and subsequent rebuilding of the church.
Rev Giffen thanked the congregation for their decades of patience and “loyal steadfastedness” in ensuring the church rose again. He asked them now to forget the various trials and tribulations that caused the decades of delay, to stop mourning the loss of the ancient building, to put all such thoughts behind them, to celebrate the newly built church, concluding his sermon:
“…and under the shadow of that beautiful temple which, though shorn of the architectural grandeur that characterised its predecessor, had a chasteness, elegance, and comfort of its own which the old one wanted, he thought they should be able both to forget and forgive.” (The Scotsman 15 Oct 1877)
Due to historic schisms and the erection of various “chapels of ease” there were however a LOT of churches in Edinburgh’s Old Town. In truth, far too many even for such a densely packed urban population.
Following the Church of Scotland’s union with the United Free Church in 1929, the nearby Moray Knox UF Church closed in 1930 and would itself be demolished some years later. You can just about make out this church next to John Knox’s house on the High Street on this image from around the time of its closure.
Its congregation moved into nearby Trinity College renaming the building as Trinity College and Moray Knox Church. This enlarged, consolidated congregation ensured the church’s viability and survival for another generation.
After World War Two however, the clearance and displacement of local residents and the planned wholesale redevelopment of this part of the city would once again adversely impact congregation numbers.
In 1958, the sad and unexpected death of its well-respected minister, a veteran of two World Wars, army chaplain and local Presbytery moderator the Rev William W Morrell MBE, ultimately also sounded the death knell for the church.
Its congregation united with Lady Glenorchy’s Church in 1959 and Trinity College and Moray Knox Church closed its doors for the final time the following year. Grave concerns were raised about what would happen next to this unusual building. In 1961, the Church of Scotland gifted the medieval apse to Edinburgh Corporation and sold the rest to a company called Highland Engineering Ltd, on condition that it be demolished.
True to their word, demolition work began within days of the sale. Highland Engineering Ltd, who had also recently purchased the more iconic Tron Kirk on the Royal Mile with a view to doing the same, set to work with aplomb. Within a short time the Victorian building was gone. The developer having walled up the entrances that once connected the ancient apse and the newer church. The Trinity Apse was then handed over to the City’s Libraries Committee who intended to use it as a reading room.
The site of the Victorian church is today occupied by the somewhat austere concrete and glass-fronted hotel you can see in this image provided by Google Streetview.
So, that’s a brief and potted history of the Victorian Trinity College Church. I would be delighted to hear more stories about this lost Edinburgh church from those that remember it or had a family connection to it.
For a more detailed, more exciting and far better-told history of the original Trinity College Church and the remaining Apse, sharing its remarkable story, you will need to join Dr Lizzie Swarbrick on Wednesday 24th July 2024 at 10.30. The building is rarely opened to the public these days, so this is an opportunity not to be missed!
You can book your tickets here.
(My thanks to Tony Jones KC for permission to share the image of his grandfather, Rev WW Morrell)