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EdinburghGreyfriarsThe Greyfriars area of Edinburgh is well known throughout the world for one specific reason - a small dog; a Skye terrier known as Greyfriars Bobby! Greyfriars Church stands in the grounds that had belonged to a Franciscan convent in the Grassmarket. In 1562 Mary, Queen of Scots, granted the land to the Town Council for use as a burial ground. The kirk was the first post-Reformation church to be built in Edinburgh and opened on Christmas Day in 1620. The western section was added as a separate church in 1721 – this was damaged by fire in 1845, as was the original church in 1857. The congregation of the Old and New Greyfriars church united in 1929 and from 1931-38 a programme of reconstruction was introduced.
Dr Robert Lee, the minister in 1860, introduced a harmonium to accompany the singing and five years later an organ was installed - the first to be kept in any Presbyterian church in Scotland. The minister also encouraged the congregation to kneel for prayers and stand for singing. In 1979 the Greyfriars congregation united with the one from the Highland Tolbooth St. John's, and is now known as Greyfriars Highland Tolbooth St. Johns. |
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In
1638 the National Covenant was signed in front of the pulpit, as well as by the
large crowd that had gathered outside – so large that the document itself was
taken into the kirk yard. In 1679 about 1200 Covenanters were imprisoned in the
kirk yard.
