Church Overview

Striking blonde sandstone building, built 1903-1905 by Archibald Macpherson, the architect of several Scottish Roman Catholic churches, to replace Lady Mary Oswald’s Chapel of 1843 that had been converted in 1880 to Our Lady of Loretto. An older nearby medieval chapel, also dedicated to Our Lady of Loretto, had been destroyed by English forces after the Battle of Pinkie in 1544, its stones later used to build the Tolbooth on Musselburgh High Street.

Noted English architect Alfred Edward Purdie submitted the initial designs for the new building and architectural student Ebenezer J MacRae was also involved in the construction of the new Gothic church and its adjacent presbytery, which today form two sides of a square around a well-kept garden that is always open to passing visitors as a place of peaceful contemplation. The church officially opened on 14th May 1905 and cost over £5000 to build. Half of the expense of its costly Norman and Beard pipe organ, installed in time for opening, was defrayed by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

The eyes of visitors today are often immediately drawn to the 21 windows within, each one filled with glorious stained glass, mainly depicting scenes from the life of Our Lady. These were designed by Nina Miller Davidson and her husband Charles Lamb Davidson from 1945-50, while they worked for the famous firm of Guthrie & Wells. Long admired, the windows were described just after their installation as “orchestral symphonies in colour, lifting the heart and taking one back to the quiet centuries of faith and worship.”

The nave has exposed dark-stained timber scissor beam rafters above and the transepts of the cruciform church host chapels dedicated to the Sacred Heart and Our Lady. The sanctuary also possesses a series of magnificent murals. These were painted on a bright gold leaf ground by artist George N. Duffie from 1943-47, sometimes during blackout conditions in the final years of World War Two. The murals depict four of the five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary: The Visitation, The Nativity, The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Finding of Jesus in the Temple. The fifth Joyful Mystery, The Annunciation, had already been depicted in richly carved alabaster above the High Altar, beneath a sumptuous gilded baldacchino.

Services

Sunday Mass at 11am and Saturday Mass at 6pm.

Opening Arrangements

Open daily

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.