Church Overview

Originally built in 1774, as an Episcopalian chapel by architect John Baxter, the building was then known as St Paul’s Chapel or more commonly as the “English Chapel”, due to its use of the liturgy of the Church of England. Its early congregation was relatively affluent and it became a fashionable place of worship for local residents and visitors alike. Noted landscape artist, Alexander Runciman was commissioned to paint a series of scenes in the apse that depict the return of the Prodigal Son, Moses, Christ talking to the women of Samaria, Elijah and the Ascension on the ceiling.

As the upper and middle classes drained from Edinburgh’s medieval Old Town to the city’s emerging New Town across the Waverley Valley, the church changed hands. From 1818-1856 the building was owned by the Scottish Relief Church. This Presbyterian congregation whitewashed over the colourful Runciman murals as they were deemed inappropriate to their form of worship. In 2016, after two centuries under thick layers of paint, a meticulous project began, overseen by the Runciman Trust, to recover and restore them to their former glory.

By the mid-1850s, the Great Hunger in Ireland had caused Edinburgh’s Irish immigrant population, particularly around the Cowgate and St Leonard’s neighbourhoods, to grow significantly. The existing Roman Catholic church on Lothian Street was too small to meet their spiritual needs, so Bishop James Gillis, the local diocese and the community purchased this building and rededicated the Cowgate church to St Patrick. Adding shamrocks and the instruments of the Passion to the plasterwork above the apse altar and new sacristies, the church opened its doors for its first Mass on Sunday 3rd August 1856.

As the area round about came to be known as “Little Ireland”, greater capacity was needed. Substantial interior remodelling followed. In 1898 a new sanctuary was built and high altar installed, designed by architect James Graham Fairley. In 1921, architect Alexander McWilliam created a new mortuary chapel, dedicated to those 320 men of the parish that had fallen during World War One, in 1925 he added the Lady and Sacred Heart Chapels to the building. Following McWilliam’s unexpected death, noted architect Reginald Fairlie was appointed to rebuild the façade of the building, which was completed in 1929. Modelled in an Italian Renaissance style, this extension to the front provided space for more rooms inside above the vestibule and a new baptistry, as well as adding outside the statues of St Brigid and St Patrick and the terrace and staircase.

A national shrine was created within the church in 2003 to house the remains of the Venerable Margaret Sinclair (1900-25), a nun who was born, baptised and had grown up in the parish, prior to her premature death while in holy orders in a London convent. There is a small museum in the church foyer that tells her story.

Services

Sundays – 9am Low Mass, 11am Sung Mass, 4.30pm Mass with hymns, 5.30pm Vespers and Benediction
Mondays – 5.45pm Mass
Tuesdays to Saturdays – Mass at 12:30pm

Opening Arrangements

Mon-Sat 8am to 7pm and Sun 8am to 6pm

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.