The Jigsaw Puzzle

In 1460, Queen Mary of Guelders was acting as regent after the death of her husband King James II of Scotland, while their son (James III) was still too young to rule. During this time, Mary chose to start many ambitious architectural and religious projects. The most important of these was the founding of Trinity Collegiate Church and Hospital in Edinburgh, which had only recently become Scotland's capital. The new Church was strategically located on Leith Wynd, nestled under the southern face of Calton Hill at the end of the Nor' Loch.

Trinity Collegiate Church (marked by the letter 'P') c.1647

Source: James Gordon of Rothiemay's map of Edinburgh, 1647, public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Founding the Church was a generous act of charity, it not only gave money to the church, it also allowed the Queen to express her own power and style. A letter from the Queen to the Pope in 1462 describes it as a 'magnificent and sumptuous work' and promises that 'she intends as soon as possible to finish it', but Mary died in 1463 and was eventually buried in the still unfinished church. Despite never being completed, it displayed soaring and complex stone vaulting and intricate sculptures with beautiful decorative details which can still be seen today. Trinity Collegiate Church was a busy, vibrant place with multiple altars and fabulous furnishings. Along with sweet-smelling beeswax candles and brightly coloured stained-glass windows, there was a painting of St Catherine, and an altar cloth embroidered with an image of St George. The clergy employed there had to undergo careful examination of their singing skills before they were accepted, and the college's first provost, Edward Bonkil, gave Trinity an organ so we know that music was incredibly important. While all of this would subsequently be lost, it is a great piece of luck that most of the wonderful Trinity Altarpiece, painted by Hugo van der Goes, commissioned by Bonkil, survives and can be seen in the National Gallery of Scotland.

Fast forward almost 400 years to the 1840s and Edinburgh was being transformed with the arrival of the railways. Lord Henry Cockburn remarked that 'the country is an asylum of railway lunatics'. In 1848, the North British Railway Company wanted to expand Waverley Station and the Trinity Collegiate Church was in the way. Despite angry protests from Edinburgh societies and citizens, the Church was removed to make way for what is now platform 2 but that wasn't the end of the story. Instead of demolishing the Church outright it was carefully dismantled and the stones individually numbered and deposited on Calton Hill, the intention being to rebuild it elsewhere. However, for the next 20 years the Church was the subject of vigorous and sometimes farcical debate between the Council and supporters of the Church (including notable names of the day such as John Ruskin, Sir Henry Cockburn, and Prince Albert) about whether the Church should be rebuilt at all and, if it was to be rebuilt, where should it be rebuilt, and who should pay!

While the Council dithered and disputed over possible locations and potential costs for the Church's reconstruction, the good people of Edinburgh gradually removed many of the stones to use in new buildings, construct walls, and simply to decorate their gardens. By the time funds had been agreed and a site chosen there were only enough stones left to rebuild the Apse. You can still find it today tucked away down Chalmer's Close off Edinburgh's High Street where its glorious vaulting and superb acoustics gives us a hint of its original beauty and a sense of its wider significance to Edinburgh and beyond.

Members of the Old Edinburgh Club and Scotland's Churches Trust in the Trinity Apse, July 2024

The visit was organised and hosted by Jill Harrison with thanks to the City of Edinburgh Council Museums and Galleries department. (Image: Hetty Lancaster)

Today the Trinity Apse is maintained and looked after by the City of Edinburgh Council's Museums and Galleries. Unfortunately, it is not currently viable to open the Trinity Apse so it remains closed to the public for the foreseeable future. This is something the Trinity Network is working hard to change. We hope through our Actions, we'll draw Attention to the Apse and make it more Accessible.