Canongate Kirk - Detail
by Yvonne Johnstone
Title
Canongate Kirk - Detail
Artist
Yvonne Johnstone
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
King James VII (and II of England) arranged for the parish church of Canongate adjacent to the Palace of Holyrood House to become the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle, and ordered that money left at the disposal of the Crown by a merchant, Thomas Moodie, should be used to build a new building.
The Royal Arms on the front were to have been those of King James but, by the time the building was completed in 1690, the escutcheon of Nassau was placed in the centre to make them the arms of William of Orange. Below are the arms and initials of Thomas Moodie.
A cross set amongst the antlers of a stag symbolises the Edinburgh parish of the Canongate.
It can be seen most vividly on the gable end of the roof high above the front door of Canongate Kirk, but elsewhere too from the war memorial against the Tolbooth to the gates of the (Holyrood) Palace.
One day in 1128, King David I, (the son of the saintly Queen Margaret) went hunting in the forest around Arthur’s Seat but something went wrong, he came off his horse and was left defenceless on the ground while an angry stag approached, its sharp antlers pointing straight at him. The King prayed that he might survive this deadly encounter and as he prayed legend has it he had a vision of the cross of Jesus between the antlers of the stag, which suddenly stopped in its tracks and withdrew quietly to the forest. The King regained his horse and rode back up the hill to the Castle, where in his thankfulness for deliverance he vowed to build an Abbey as close to the place where his life was spared.
And so the story of the Abbey of the Holy Rood, which means Holy Cross in old language, began to take shape all those centuries ago, an Abbey that would give its name to the Palace that evolved out of its guesthouse and eventually to this whole part of town.
The Canongate Kirk is the Queen's official place of worship in Edinburgh. The antlers on the gold stag's head are real and provided by the Queen's estate at Balmoral. They are replaced when the wind and rain wear them out.
Uploaded
July 14th, 2019
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