Old Saint Paul's

Although the present building dates from the 19th century, Old St Paul's has a history going back 300 years to the beginning of the Scottish Episcopal Church. The original congregation of Old St Paul's was a breakaway group from St Giles' Cathedral, which had become the Cathedral of Edinburgh in 1634. The last bishop at St Giles', Alexander Rose, left the Cathedral in 1689 accompanied by much of his congregation. He founded a new place of worship in an old wool store in Carrubber's Close, close to the present site of Old St Paul's. Many Episcopalians remained pro-Jacobite during the Jacobite rising of 1689, loyal to James and his descendants. Members of St Paul's were involved in the…

's Still (2004) in the memorial chapel ]] The present building was designed by William Hay and George Henderson in the Early English style at a cost of £3,500, and was completed in 1883. Hay had been a pupil of Sir Gilbert Scott (architect of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in the West End of Edinburgh). Two subsequent nave extensions have trebled the building's original length, and the chancel floor has been raised and laid with marble. It is a Category B listed building. The high altar is made of carved oak in neo-Norman style with grape vine decoration, surmounted with a slab of porphyry. Seven lamps represent the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The reredos is in gilded oak, and was designed by…