Church Overview

Marchmont St Giles’ Parish Church has a relatively short history having been formed by the union of West St Giles’, the Warrender and Grange Churches in 1972. Its roots go back a long way, however, with West St Giles’ which began its life in St Giles’ on the historic High Street, to more modern times with the establishment of the Warrender and Robertson Memorial Churches at a time when the population of Edinburgh was expanding southwards, and the new suburbs of Bruntsfield, Marchmont and the Grange were constructed.

The church enjoys a prominent position on a rise at the top of Kilgraston Road. Designed by Robert Morham in English Gothic style and constructed of contrasting yellow and red sandstone, with polished ashlar dressing, its spire rises 150 feet into the sky. Its foundation stone was laid in 28th May 1870 and its inaugural service was held a year later on 1st Oct 1871, with an opening capacity to host a congregation of 800. Named to commemorate Dr James Robertson, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the Uni of Edinburgh, it changed its name from Robertson Memorial Church to the Grange Church in 1933.

After some internal congregational debate, a Brindley & Foster organ was installed in 1880, with extensive and costly repairs taking place in 1923, 1963 and 2002. The church today contains war memorials from Warrender and West St Giles Churches as well as its own, but at least one particularly significant memorial at West St Giles was lost when the building was demolished in the mid-1970s. Stained glass mainly by the Edinburgh studio of Ballantine and Gardiner, of the 23 windows in the church, only one does not contain stained glass. Look out for the intricate Tindal Mosaic, created from over one million tesseract in 1965 by Ray Howard Jones and Ernest De Rosa.

In 2006 a new church centre was opened, which contains a welcoming community café that offering teas and coffees and light refreshments Mon to Friday. 

Services

Sundays: 9:50 am.

Opening Arrangements

Check by phoning 0131 447 4359. Butterflies Community Cafe open Mon-Fri 10am to 4pm.

Disclaimer

The information about churches in Scotland’s Churches Scheme has been provided by the congregations or taken from the Historic Scotland list and published sources, in particular, the Buildings of Scotland volumes and the RIAS Illustrated Architectural Guides. To contact this specific church please complete the Contact this Church form above. The information is not authoritative; please contact Scotland’s Churches Trust to let us know of any errors or omissions.