Church Overview

Begun in 1881 and completed in 1883, the A-listed St Michael’s Parish Church is one of celebrated Scottish Victorian and Edwardian architect John Honeyman’s most notable buildings. Its beloved landmark square tower rises 130ft skyward over Slateford and the church has the distinction of housing the longest aisle in the city. Honeyman designed the Gothic kirk to accommodate just over a thousand sitters and built the church, halls and an adjacent officer’s house for around £15,000.

The bright and airy sanctuary is illuminated by its delightful lofty clerestory, that sits just beneath the robust, dark-timbered and purlin-trussed queen post roof. Handsome stone pillars, supporting richly-moulded arches, help divide the aisle into three, each pillar adorned with an exquisitely carved head, the intricate stone carving the work of a Mr McKillop and James Young, the identities of the faces now a matter of speculation. A transept in the east end was specially constructed to house a pipe organ and it did not have long to wait. In 1895 it became home to a fine organ built by the eminent Sheffield organ-builders Brindley and Foster. The two manual organ with 22 stops, in its striking Gothic case, was overhauled by Brindley & Foster in 1911, then by Rushworth & Dreaper in 1959 and by local organ-builder Robert Goldsmith in 1974. A Reid-Sohn grand piano joined the organ in 2000, with both instruments used regularly for recitals and in Sunday worship.

Somewhat unusually for a Presbyterian church, St Michael’s possesses a striking reredos, but rather than the images of saints or biblical scenes that you might see in a Roman Catholic or Episcopal church, this wonderful Gothic example bears hand-painted illuminated scripts announcing the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the Beatitudes and the Apostle’s Creed. The church’s beautiful walnut pulpit and its companion piece lectern are decorated with sumptuously painted panels, depicting fruits that feature in the bible, such as apples, lemons and pomegranates. These items were all painted and gifted by the artist Gertrude Hope of Belmont when the church first opened. Of more recent creation are the eye-catching communion table fall, pulpit fall and bible markers by the artist and academic Hannah Frew Paterson, these were dedicated in April 2001.

The church is also blessed with a number of fine stained glass windows, from the noted workshops of Ballantine & Gardiner and James Ballantine and Son and the eminent artist Alexander Strachan, younger brother of the more famous Douglas. In the vestibule, visitors are greeted by a pair of striking doors with handsome geometric leaded painted glass panels, installed in 2001, designed by Susan Bradbury, each one engraved with plants and flowers that gave their names to the nearby streets in the famous Shandon ‘Colonies’.

An unusual font bowl, reputed to have been dug up in the ruins of a pre-Reformation church and gifted anonymously to the church along with its newly carved decorative base, was in use until the year 2000 when it was replaced by a more practical wooden baptismal font. A sombre bronze and marble-fringed war memorial lists the names of the 63 men and one woman of the congregation that gave their lives in the service of their country during World War One and an open bronze book-shaped memorial beneath lists the 20 men who fell during World War Two. Members of the congregation have created this database with more information about these brave individuals.

St Michael’s “convincing medieval interior” was described by Historic Environment Scotland as a significant factor in awarding the Edinburgh church its nationally significant A-listed status, recognising it as a “fine example of ecclesiological planning at the start of the Scoto-Catholic Movement”.  The interior of this remarkable examplar of the Victorian Neo-Gothic was extensively and lovingly restored between 1994-2000 and its exterior from 2000-07, with the latter work overseen by the architect Jocelyn Cunliffe, and today the church provides welcome accommodation for a variety of worship, cultural and community outreach activities.

Services

Sundays at 11am

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.