Trinity College Kirk

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Trinity College Kirk was a royal collegiate church in Edinburgh, Scotland. The kirk and its adjacent almshouse, Trinity Hospital, were founded in 1460 by Mary of Gueldres in memory of her husband, King James II. Queen Mary was interred in the church, until her coffin was moved to Holyrood Abbey in 1848.^[1]

The church and hospital of Soutra Aisle dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was held as a prebend of the chancellor of St Andrews.^[2] In 1459/60 the chancellorship was vacant allowing the dowager queen to supplicate Pope Pius II for the annexation of Soutra to her Trinity College foundation – the sanctioning bull was published on 23 October 1460.^[2] Queen Mary issued a charter on 25 March 1462 detailing the constitution for Trinity College in which the provost was to hold Soutra church as a prebend but had to maintain three bedesmen in the Soutra hospital.^[2]

Built in the shadow of Calton Hill, the gothic kirk, and its associated hospital, were demolished in 1848, despite a formal protest from the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, to allow for the construction of Waverley Station.^[3][4] David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson managed to take some photographs of the kirk before its demise. It was carefully dismantled and each piece of masonry was numbered with the intention of reconstructing the kirk on another site. Edinburgh Town Council received £16,000 from the North British Railway Company for the purpose of reconstructing the building, or building a substitute, but the funds were never used.^[5] However, one transept and the choir were reconstructed in the 1870s, on Chalmers Close, just off the Royal Mile, and, under the name Trinity Apse, now houses the Brass Rubbing Centre, under the auspices of the City of Edinburgh Council's Museum of Childhood.^[6] The rebuilt Apse, together with carved stone fragments and the boundary wall, is registered as a Category A listed building by Historic Scotland.

Contents 1 List of provosts 2 See also 3 Notes 4 References 5 External links

[edit] List of provosts

• Edward Bonkle: 1462 – 1495 x 1496
• James Oliphant: 1499 – 1525
• John Brady: 1502 – 1525
• John Dingwell: 1525 – 1532 x 1533
• William Cunningham: 1533 – 1539
• Thomas Erskine: 1539
• Robert Erskine: 1539 – 1540
• George Clapperton: 1540 – 1566
• Laurence Clapperty: 1566 – 1571 x 1572
• Robert Pont: 1572 – 1586

Source: Watt & Murray Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae

Note: One of the founding members of the College of Justice, John Dingwell, was Provost of Trinity College; and several Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland came from the Trinity College Kirk:

• 1690 Hugh Kennedie AM
• 1719 James Grierson
• 1739 James Bannatyne
• 1740 George Logan

[edit] See also

• Berwick Castle, most of which was also demolished in 1847, to allow for the construction of the Edinburgh - Newcastle railway

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., (1976), Medieval Religious Houses Scotland, Longman, London. ISBN 0-582-12069-1
• Watt, D.E.R.and Murray, A. L. (2003), Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae Medii Aevi Ad Annum 1638', The Scottish Record Society, Edinburgh. ISBN 0-902054-19-8

[edit] External links

• Photographs of a communion plate, 2 communion cups and 2 communion flagons associated with Trinity College Kirk, Edinburgh; National Museums Scotland
• Archive of images of the kirk, held by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
• Image of Trinity Hospital, held by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
• Photograph of a transept window, University of Glasgow
• Brass Rubbing Centre, the City of Edinburgh Museums & Galleries