Church Overview

A striking corner site church, on one of Edinburgh’s busiest thoroughfares in the Italian Lombardic style. Built by architects James Sutherland and James Campbell Walker in a Latin cross configuration, with church hall and vestry to the rear, its late neo-Romanesque detailing, finely carved mouldings and capitals and wonderful rose windows have been delighting passers-by since the church opened in 1879. 

Its interior is galleried, with Lombardic arcading to the front of each gallery. Other features of note are the handsome pulpit and organ gallery and a baptismal font of a kneeling angel with a clamshell, of 1881, by Scottish sculptor John Rhind, after the original well-known font by Bertel Thorvaldsen of Denmark. The central oak table was relocated from, the now demolished, Prestonfield Church.

There are some beautiful stained glass windows, designed as a war memorial by Alexander Strachan, Douglas Hamilton and Mary Wood in 1921. The pipe organ is by James Jepson Binns of Sheffield and was installed around 1900.

A programme of careful restoration of the external masonry and windows took place in 2008 and the interior of the building was substantially refurbished and reordered to improve accessibility and usability of the space in 2013 and 2017.

The building opened as Rosehall United Presbyterian Church. The United Presbyterian Church merged with the Free Church of Scotland in 1900 and in 1929 reunited with the Church of Scotland. In 1974 the building’s name was changed from Rosehall Church of Scotland to Priestfield, following a merger with Prestonfield Church of Scotland, which was then closed and demolished. On the 1st January 2025, the congregation of Priestfield Parish Church formally changed the building’s name to Newington Trinity Church, to reflect the union that had taken place between themselves and the congregations of Craigmillar Park and Mayfield Salisbury Churches.

Craigmillar Park Church has been sold to Edinburgh’s Greek Orthodox community, who are in the process of refurbishing the building, worship continues to be held in the former Priestfield and Mayfield Salisbury buildings. 

Services

Sundays at 10.30am

Opening Arrangements

Open by arrangement

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.