St Mary's Collegiate Church, Haddington

Coordinates: 55°57′12″N 2°46′19″W / 55.9532°N 2.7719°W / 55.9532; -2.7719
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St Marys Collegiate Church, Haddington from the south-west
Interior, St Mary's Church, Haddington
The main entrance, St Marys Collegiate Church, Haddington

The Collegiate Church of

St Mary the Virgin is a Church of Scotland parish church in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland
.

Building work on the church was started in 1380, and further building and rebuilding has taken place up to the present day. It is the longest church in Scotland, at 206 feet (62.8 metres) from east to west,[1] and is in the early Gothic style.

Description

The cruciform church is located in a large open churchyard, at some distance from the town centre. The church is built on a scale becoming of a cathedral. It is of a uniform and consistent design, that suggests a clear adherence to the original plans. Having been desecrated during the sixteenth century, the nave of the church and the tower were repaired for use by the congregation, this part being subject to various restorations in subsequent centuries. A comprehensive renovation of the whole church was carried out in the 1970s.[2]

Choir

The

bagpipe. On the north side of the choir there is a medieval sacristy, which is now an ecumenical chapel and mausoleum of the Maitland family dedicated to the Three Kings.[3]

Tower and transepts

The

St. Michael's Parish Church, Linlithgow. It is not known whether or not this decorative structure was ever built.[4]

Nave

The pulpit, St Mary's Church, Haddington

The

castellation
and pinnacles. The clerestory windows are similar to those of the aisles and the wall heads finished with cornicing. The position of the pre-1811 vaults are still visible on the sides of the nave.

The western front of the building has a large window divided into six main lights in groups of three divided by a Y-shaped central mullion. These are each surmounted by double mouchettes and vesica piscis windows. The capital is formed of double "dagger" and single quatrefoil windows. Below is the main door, with round headed arch composed of several filleted shafts, the door is divided into two by a trumeau shaft topped with two semi-circular arches; the capital here bears a representation of the Arma Christi.[5]

Interior

Ceiling. St Mary's Church, Haddington

The interior of the church is notable for the extensive

The Very Rev Dr John B. Cairns, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, on 6 June.[8]

History

Christianity in Haddington

Haddington was the fourth largest town in Scotland in the

Royal Burgh. There is record of the church in Haddington in a charter of David I of Scotland dated 1139, giving the monks of St Andrews Cathedral Priory the benefits of its revenues. The king granted unam mansuram in Haddington, as well as to the monks of Haddington a full toft "in burgo meo de Hadintun, free of all custom and service".[9]
This parish church was probably built upon the site of the choir of the present edifice.

In the late 12th century the great Abbey of Haddington was founded by

St Lazarus
.

Burnt Candlemas

Rev John Brown
, St Marys, Haddington

In recognition of Haddington's strategic importance in the Lothians, it was burnt twice in the 13th century by the English, once by the forces of John, King of England in 1216, and in 1246 by John's son Henry III of England. In early 1356, Edward III of England, following in his great-grandfather's footsteps, invaded Scotland, in an episode that would become known as the Burnt Candlemas. Edward had come north to recapture Berwick-upon-Tweed, taken by the Scots in 1355, this having been accomplished he overwintered at Roxburgh. There, Edward Balliol, the pretender to the Scots throne, had resigned his interest in the Scots throne to Edward. By February, 1356, Edward had crossed the Lammermuir Hills, and in revenge for Berwick, spent ten days at Haddington, where he sacked the town, and destroyed most of the buildings there, including the Franciscan Lamp of Lothian. His army ravaged the whole of Lothian, burning Edinburgh and the Shrine of the Virgin at Whitekirk.[11][12]

John Knox and the Reformation

John Knox is believed to have been born in Giffordgate, on the opposite bank of the River Tyne from St Mary's around 1514. He trained as a priest in St Mary's but never held the parish. Instead, he became a notary and then a tutor to landowning families near Haddington. These lairds supported the Reformer, George Wishart and Knox became a guide to Wishart as he travelled in the Lothians. In January 1547, Wishart preached at two services in St Mary's with Knox standing guard, below the pulpit bearing a two handed sword. There is no record of Knox having preached in St Mary's, but, as he was ordained priest there and the inventory of his estate showed that he had a pension from the Kirk in Haddington, it seems likely.

The Kirk o' St Mary

By 1380, the townsfolk of Haddington had recovered enough to start building a new foundation. The kirk of Saint Mary took nearly a century to build, being consecrated around 1410 by

Bishop of Saint Andrews; the structure was completed in 1462. However, in a document from this date the prior of Saint Andrew's promised a grant of £100 for the embellishment of the choir.[13]

Ministry

The Reverend Alison McDonald was appointed as minister of the church in July 2019, following the death in March 2018 of the Reverend Jennifer Macrae.

Burials

The grave of the Earls of Wemyss, St Marys Collegiate Church, Haddington

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ McWilliam, p. 230.
  2. ^ McWilliam, pp. 230–35.
  3. ^ McWilliam, p. 230.
  4. ^ McWilliam, p. 230.
  5. ^ McWilliam, p. 230.
  6. ^ Organ specification
  7. ^ "Haddington, Lothian". www.keltektrust.org.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  8. ^ stmaryskirk.co.uk
  9. ^ Miller, p. 173.
  10. ^ Fraser, R. W. (1866). The kirk and the manse. Edinburgh: A. Fullarton. pp. 63–67. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  11. ^ Nicholson, pp. 161–2.
  12. ^ Bryant, p. 406.
  13. ^ Nicholson, p. 232.

Sources

  • Bryant, Arthur. The Age of Chivalry. London: Collins, 1963.
  • Groome, F.H. Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland. 6 vols. Edinburgh: Grange, 1883.
  • McWilliam, Colin. Lothian, Except Edinburgh. The Buildings of Scotland. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978.
  • Miller, James. The Lamp of Lothian. Haddington: W. Sinclair, 1900.
  • Nicholson, Ranald. Scotland: The Later Middle Ages. The Edinburgh History of Scotland. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1978

External links

55°57′12″N 2°46′19″W / 55.9532°N 2.7719°W / 55.9532; -2.7719

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