1.
Holyrood Abbey Church
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Holyrood Abbey Church is a congregation of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is based in a church building on London Road, Abbeyhill. The church building was opened in December 1900 as Abbeyhill United Free Church, the 12th-century Holyrood Abbey served as the parish church of the Canongate until the construction of the Kirk of the Canongate in 1688. Following the Disruption of 1843 in the Church of Scotland, part of the congregation of the Kirk of the Canongate left to form Holyrood Free Church, a new building was constructed by them on Abbey Strand, in front of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. In 1915 this congregation united with Abbeyhill United Free Church, henceforth using the London Road church buildings, when the United Free Church of Scotland united with the Church of Scotland in 1929, the London Road congregation were known thereafter as Holyrood Abbey Church. The Abbeyhill building was designed by R M Cameron, and is protected as a category B listed building, the building was extensively upgraded in 2006–2007. In 2014 the congregations minister resigned over his disagreement with the Kirks decision to accept homosexual ministers, Holyrood Evangelical Church, a separate congregation, was then started by those who had left the Abbey Church. The church will be known as Meadowbank Church from February 2017
2.
Abbey
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An abbey is a complex of buildings used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. It provides a place for activities, work and housing of Christian monks. The concept of the abbey has developed over centuries from the early monastic ways of religious men and women where they would live isolated from the lay community about them. Religious life in an abbey may be monastic, an abbey may be the home of an enclosed religious order or may be open to visitors. The layout of the church and associated buildings of an abbey often follows a set plan determined by the religious order. Abbeys are often self-sufficient while using any abundance of produce or skill to provide care to the poor and needy, some abbeys offer accommodation to people who are seeking spiritual retreat. There are many famous abbeys across Europe, the earliest known Christian monasteries were groups of huts built near the residence of a famous ascetic or other holy person. Disciples wished to be close to their man or woman in order to study their doctrine or imitate their way of life. In the earliest times of Christian monasticism, ascetics would live in social isolation and they would subsist whilst donating any excess produce to the poor. However, increasing religious fervor about the ways and or persecution of them would drive them further away from their community. For instance, the cells and huts of anchorites have been found in the deserts of Egypt, in 312 AD, Anthony the Great retired to the Thebaid region of Egypt to escape the persecution of the Emperor Maximian. Anthony was the best known of the anchorites of his due to his degree of austerity, sanctity. The deeper he withdrew into the wilderness, the more numerous his disciples became and they refused to be separated from him and built their cells close to him. This became a first true monastic community, Anthony, according to Johann August Wilhelm Neander, inadvertently became the founder of a new mode of living in common, Coenobitism. At Tabennae on the Nile, in Upper Egypt, Saint Pachomius laid the foundations for the life by arranging everything in an organized manner. He built several monasteries, each with about 1,600 separate cells laid out in lines and these cells formed an encampment where the monks slept and performed some of their manual tasks. There were nearby large halls such as the church, refectory, kitchen, infirmary, an enclosure protecting all these buildings gave the settlement the appearance of a walled village. This layout, known as the laurae, became popular throughout Palestine, as well as the laurae, communities known as caenobia developed
3.
Canons Regular
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Secular canons, by contrast, belong to a community of priests attached to a church but do not take vows or live in common under a Rule. Canons Regular are sometimes called Black or White Canons, depending on the color of the habit worn by the congregation to which they belong. Some congregations of Canons Regular have retained the vow of stability, famous Canons Regular include Pope Adrian IV, Thomas à Kempis, and Desiderius Erasmus. The Canons Regular are not to be confused with the Order of Saint Augustine, Pope Urban II wrote of two forms of religious life, the monastic and the canonical. He likened the monks to the role of Mary, and the canons to that of her sister and these clergy were called canon because their names were kept in a list known as a kanon, a Greek word meaning rule. The monks sought to reflect supernatural order and stability within their monasteries, with examples of worship, farming, medical care, librarianship, learning, by 1125 hundreds of communities of Canons had sprung up in Western Europe. Usually they were autonomous of one another, and varied in their ministries. One obvious place where a group of priests was required was within a cathedral, where there were many Masses to celebrate, Canons often came to be associated with cathedrals, but other groups of canons also established themselves in smaller centres. In a word, canons regular may be considered as the genus, and Austin Canons as the species, or all Austin Canons are canons regular and this is what constitutes a canon regular and what distinguishes him from a monk. The clerical state is essential to the Order of Canons Regular, Erasmus, himself a canon regular, declared that the canons regular are a median point between the monks and the secular clergy. The outer appearance and observances of the canons regular can seem very similar to those of the monks and this is because the various reforms borrowed certain practices from the monks for the use of the canons. According to St. Augustine, a canon regular professes two things, sanctitatem et clericatum, St. Augustine’s teaching and example has become the heritage of the Church as it sets about bringing to life again the common life of clerics. The canons regular do not confine themselves exclusively to canonical functions, many congregations of canons worked among the poor, the lepers, and the infirm. The clerics established by St. Patrick in Ireland had a Guest House for pilgrims, and the rule given by Chrodegang to his canons enjoined that a hospital should be near their house that they might tend the sick. St. Augustine of Hippo did not found the order of canons regular, there were Canons Regular before St. Augustine. In the first centuries after Christ, priests lived with the bishop and carried out the liturgy, while each could own his own property, they lived together and shared common meals and a common dormitory. From the 4th to the middle of the 11th century, the communities of canons were established exclusively by bishops, the oldest form of canonical life was known as Ordo Antiquus. The first who successfully united the clerical state with the observance was St Eusebius
4.
Edinburgh
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Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 local government council areas. Located in Lothian on the Firth of Forths southern shore, it is Scotlands second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The 2014 official population estimates are 464,990 for the city of Edinburgh,492,680 for the authority area. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and it is the largest financial centre in the UK after London. Historically part of Midlothian, the city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2013 and 2014. The city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe. The citys historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdoms second most popular tourist destination after London, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, Edinburghs Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. It appears to derive from the place name Eidyn mentioned in the Old Welsh epic poem Y Gododdin, the poem names Din Eidyn as a hill fort in the territory of the Gododdin. The Celtic element din was dropped and replaced by the Old English burh, the first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is a royal charter, c. 1124–1127, by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline. In modern Gaelic, the city is called Dùn Èideann, the earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c.8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have found on Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat, Craiglockhart Hill. When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, at some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its location has not been identified, it likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria and it thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, in 1638, King Charles Is attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In the 17th century, Edinburghs boundaries were defined by the citys defensive town walls
5.
David I of Scotland
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David I or Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots. The youngest son of Máel Coluim III and Margaret of Wessex, David spent most of his childhood in Scotland, perhaps after 1100, he became a dependent at the court of King Henry I. There he was influenced by the Norman and Anglo-French culture of the court, when Davids brother Alexander I of Scotland died in 1124, David chose, with the backing of Henry I, to take the Kingdom of Scotland for himself. He was forced to engage in warfare against his rival and nephew, subduing the latter seems to have taken David ten years, a struggle that involved the destruction of Óengus, Mormaer of Moray. Davids victory allowed expansion of control over more distant regions theoretically part of his Kingdom, after the death of his former patron Henry I, David supported the claims of Henrys daughter and his own niece, the former Empress-consort, Matilda, to the throne of England. In the process, he came into conflict with King Stephen and was able to expand his power in northern England, the term Davidian Revolution is used by many scholars to summarise the changes which took place in Scotland during his reign. The early years of David I are the most obscure of his life, because there is little documented evidence, historians can only guess at most of Davids activities in this period. David was born on an unknown in 1084 in Scotland. He was probably the son of King Máel Coluim mac Donnchada. He was the grandson of the ill-fated King Duncan I, in 1093 King Máel Coluim and Davids brother Edward were killed at the River Aln during an invasion of Northumberland. David and his two brothers Alexander and Edgar, both kings of Scotland, were probably present when their mother died shortly afterwards. According to later tradition, the three brothers were in Edinburgh when they were besieged by their uncle, Domnall Bán. It is not certain what happened next, but an insertion in the Chronicle of Melrose states that Domnall forced his three nephews into exile, although he was allied with another of his nephews, Edmund. John of Fordun wrote, centuries later, that an escort into England was arranged for them by their maternal uncle Edgar Ætheling, William Rufus, King of England, opposed Domnalls accession to the northerly kingdom. He sent the eldest son of Máel Coluim, Davids half-brother Donnchad, Donnchad was killed within the year, and so in 1097 William sent Donnchads half-brother Edgar into Scotland. The latter was successful, and was crowned King by the end of 1097. During the power struggle of 1093–97, David was in England, in 1093, he may have been about nine years old. From 1093 until 1103 Davids presence cannot be accounted for in detail, when William Rufus was killed, his brother Henry Beauclerc seized power and married Davids sister, Matilda
6.
Scottish Reformation
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The Scottish Reformation was the process by which Scotland broke with the Papacy and developed a predominantly Calvinist national Kirk, which was strongly Presbyterian in outlook. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation that took place from the sixteenth century, in the earlier part of the sixteenth century, the teachings of Martin Luther began to influence Scotland. Particularly important was the work of the Lutheran Scot Patrick Hamilton and his death in 1542 left the infant Mary, Queen of Scots as his heir, allowing a series of English invasions later known as the Rough Wooing. The English supplied books and distributed Bibles and Protestant literature in the Lowlands when they invaded in 1547, the execution of the Zwingli-influenced George Wishart in 1546, who was burnt at the stake on the orders of Cardinal David Beaton, stimulated the growth of these ideas in reaction. The survivors, including chaplain John Knox, were condemned to serve as galley slaves and their martyrdom stirred resentment of the French and inspiring additional martyrs for the Protestant cause. In 1549, the defeat of the English with French support led to the marriage of Mary to the French dauphin, the Scottish Reformation Parliament of 1560 adopted a Protestant confession of faith, rejecting papal jurisdiction and the mass. Knox, having escaped the galleys and having spent time in Geneva, the Calvinism of the reformers led by Knox resulted in a settlement that adopted a Presbyterian system and rejected most of the elaborate trappings of the Medieval church. When her husband Francis II died in 1560, the Catholic Mary returned to Scotland to take up the government and her six-year personal reign was marred by a series of crises, largely caused by the intrigues and rivalries of the leading nobles. Opposition to her third husband Bothwell led to the formation of a coalition of nobles, who captured Mary and forced her abdicate in favour of her son, James was brought up a Protestant, but resisted Presbyterianism and the independence of the Kirk. The Reformation resulted in changes in Scottish society. These included a desire to plant a school in every parish, scotlands ecclesiastical art paid a heavy toll as a result of Reformation iconoclasm. Native craftsmen and artists turned to secular patrons, resulting in the flourishing of Scottish Renaissance painted ceilings, the Reformation also had a severe impact on church music, with song schools closed down, choirs disbanded, music books and manuscripts destroyed and organs removed from churches. These were replaced by the singing of psalms, despite attempts of James VI to refound the song schools. The Kirk became the subject of pride and many Scots saw their country as a new Israel. Christianity spread in Scotland from the century, with evangelisation by Irish-Scots missionaries and, to a lesser extent. The whole Ecclesia Scoticana, with individual Scottish bishoprics, became the daughter of the see of Rome. It was run by special councils made up of all the Scottish bishops, the administration of parishes was often given over to local monastic institutions in a process known as appropriation. By the time of the Reformation in the mid-sixteenth century 80 per cent of Scottish parishes were appropriated, in 1472 St Andrews became the first archbishopric in the Scottish church, to be followed by Glasgow in 1492
7.
Holyrood Palace
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The Palace of Holyroodhouse, commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Queen Elizabeth spends one week in residence at Holyrood Palace at the beginning of each summer, Sir William Bruce designed the 3-storey plus attic Baroque palace for Charles II upon the restoration of the monarchy. The entry gateway is framed by massive coupled Roman Doric columns, with the carved Royal Arms of Scotland, the north and south fronts have symmetrical 3-storey facades that rise behind to far left and right of 2-storey range with regular arrangement of bays. The east front has 17 pilastered bays with superimposed columns at each floor, the ruins of the abbey church connect to the palace on the north-east corner. Architectural historian Dan Cruickshank selected the palace as one of his eight choices for the 2002 BBC book The Story of Britains Best Buildings, the rooms open to the public include the 17th-century former Kings apartments and Great Gallery, and the 16th-century apartments in the north-west tower. The Great Stair in the south-west corner of the quadrangle has a 17th-century Baroque ceiling featuring plaster angels holding the Honours of Scotland, the Italian paintings on the walls are fragments of frescoes painted circa 1550 by Lattanzio Gambara, illustrating scenes from Ovids Metamorphoses. They were bought by Prince Albert in 1856, and placed here in 1881, at the top of the stair is the Royal Dining Room, formerly part of the Queens apartments. The Adam style decoration dates from around 1800, when this was part of the Duke of Hamiltons apartment, the Kings apartments occupied the whole of the south and east sides of the quadrangle. Accessed from the Great Stair, the suite of rooms comprising a hall, presence chamber, privy chamber, antechamber, bedchamber. The level of privacy, as well as the richness of decoration, from the visit of George IV in 1822, the guard hall has been used as a throne room, and the order of rooms reversed. The Evening Drawing Room and Morning Drawing Room occupy the former presence chamber and privy chamber, the Morning Drawing Room is hung with French tapestries bought by Charles II, and is used for private ceremonies. The Kings Antechamber, Bedchamber and Closet are laid out along the east side of the palace, the Kings Bedchamber, at the centre of the east façade, has the finest of the 17th-century plaster ceilings, augmented by paintings of Hercules by Jacob de Wet II. The 17th-century bed was made for the Duke of Hamilton, although it was referred to as Queen Marys Bed when it occupied the older Queens rooms. The Great Gallery, the largest room in the palace, links the Kings Closet with the former Queens apartments in the west range, the gallery is decorated with 110 portraits of the Scottish monarchs, beginning with the legendary Fergus I, who supposedly ruled from 330 BC. The portraits were all completed between 1684 and 1686 by Jacob de Wet II and this collection celebrated the royal bloodline of Scotland which the Scots upheld for its continuity and antiquity as an important part of their national identity in the seventeenth century. After 1707, Scotlands representative peers were elected here to be sent to Westminster, bonnie Prince Charlie held evening balls in the gallery during his brief occupation, and it later became a Catholic chapel for the Comte dArtois. Today it is used for functions including investitures and banquets. These rooms were occupied by Lord Darnley in the 17th century, Queen Mary occupied an identical suite of rooms on the second floor of the tower, the bedchambers are linked by a private spiral stair
8.
Parish church
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A parish church in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. The church building reflects this status, and there is variety in the size. Many villages in Europe have churches that date back to the Middle Ages, in England, it is the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches. Nearly every part of England is in a parish, and most parishes have an Anglican parish church, in cities without a cathedral of a certain Christian denomination, the parish church may have administrative functions similar to that of a cathedral. However, the diocese will still have a cathedral, while smaller villages may only have a parish church, larger towns may have a parish church and then also smaller churches in various districts which do not have the status of parish church. Often the parish church will be the one to have a full-time minister. One sign of this is that the church is the only one to have a baptismal font. The Church of Scotland, the established Presbyterian church, also uses a system of parish churches, in Massachusetts, towns elected publicly funded parish churches from 1780 until 1834. Toward the end of the 20th century, a new resurgence in interest in parish churches emerged across the United States and this has given rise to efforts like the Slow Church Movement and The Parish Collective which focus heavily on localized involvement across work, home, and church life. Theologically, many Protestants have embraced the model as having roots in a Reformed view of eschatology. It’s a way of saying ‘I believe in the Incarnation, ’” says pastor Raymond F. Cannata, “Having an earthy eschatology is part of it. ”Roman Catholic parish church Church of England parish church Smith, C. Slow Church, Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus
9.
Royal Mile
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The Royal Mile is the name given to a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The name was first used in W M Gilberts Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century, the streets which make up the Royal Mile are Castlehill, the Lawnmarket, the High Street, the Canongate and Abbey Strand. The Royal Mile is the busiest tourist street in the Old Town, running eastwards from the crag, the Royal Mile sits upon the ridge of the tail which slopes gently down to Holyrood Palace. Steep closes run between the many tall lands off the main thoroughfare, the route runs from an elevation of 42 meters above sea level at the palace, to 109 meters at the castle, for an average gradient of 4. 1%. The Castle Esplanade was laid out as a ground, in 1753. It was formalised in 1816 when it was widened and provided with decorative railings, the Esplanade with its several monuments has been A-listed by Historic Scotland. It is the venue of the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo at which time specially designed temporary grandstands are erected, the Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland and New College are further down on the same side, in an architecturally somewhat understated building as seen from this side. The Scottish Parliament met in the Assembly Hall between 1999 and 2004, the Lawnmarket was originally part of the High Street before its separate naming, which accounts for the street numbering being a continuation of the High Street numbers. A charter of 1477 designated this part of the High Street as the market-place for what was called inland merchandise - items such as yarn, stockings, coarse cloth, in later years, linen was the main product sold. As a result, it known as the Land Market which was later corrupted to Lawn Market. Today, the majority of shops in the street are aimed at tourists, on the north side is the preserved 17th century merchants townhouse Gladstones Land owned by the National Trust for Scotland. The south side has a strong Dutch influence in its 17th-century gables, the lower end of the Lawnmarket is intersected by George IV Bridge on the right and Bank Street on the left, leading to The Mound and the New Town. The view down Bank Street is closed by the headquarters of the Bank of Scotland. On the south-west corner of intersection, with its entrance on George IV Bridge, is a new hotel. This building is of controversial design winning both best building awards and carbuncle awards in 2009/10. Between Bank Street and St Giles Street, marking the end of the Lawnmarket, St Giles Cathedral, the High Kirk of Edinburgh, also stands in Parliament Square. The prison was described by Sir Walter Scott as the Heart of Midlothian, locals have traditionally spat upon the heart, presumably to express disgust. The custom has been to some extent sanitised by tourist guides who claim that the spitting is merely for good luck, on the north side, opposite St Giles, stand Edinburgh City Chambers, where the City of Edinburgh Council meets
10.
Scheduled monument
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In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation used for protecting heritage assets from damage. The protection given to scheduled monuments is given under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, a heritage asset is a part of the historic environment that is valued because of its historic, archaeological, architectural or artistic interest. Only some of these are judged to be important enough to have legal protection through designation. There are about 20,000 scheduled monuments in England representing about 37,000 heritage assets, of the tens of thousands of scheduled monuments in the UK, most are inconspicuous archaeological sites, but some are large ruins. According to the 1979 Act, a monument cannot be a structure which is occupied as a dwelling, as a rule of thumb, a protected historic asset that is occupied would be designated as a listed building. Scheduled Monuments are defined in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, in England, Wales and Scotland they are often referred to as a scheduled ancient monument, although the Act defines only ancient monument and scheduled monument. A monument can be, A building or structure, cave or excavation which is above or below the surface of the land, a site comprising any vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other moveable structure. In Northern Ireland they are designated under separate legislation and are referred to as a historic monument or a monument in state care. The first Act to enshrine legal protection for ancient monuments was the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 and this identified an initial list of 68 prehistoric sites, which were given a degree of legal protection. This was the result of strenuous representation by William Morris and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, which had been founded in 1877. Following various previous attempts, the 1882 legislation was guided through parliament by John Lubbock, the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments, as set up by the act, was Augustus Pitt Rivers. At this point, only the inspector, answering directly to the First Commissioner of Works, was involved in surveying the scheduled sites and persuading landowners to offer sites to the state. The act also established the concept of guardianship, in which a site might remain in private ownership, however the legislation could not compel landowners, as that level of state interference with private property was not politically possible. The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1900 extended the scope of the legislation to include medieval monuments, in a speech in 1907, Robert Hunter, chairman of the National Trust, observed that only a further 18 sites had been added to the original list of 68. Charles Peers, an architect, was appointed as Inspector in 1910 in the Office of Works becoming Chief Inspector in 1913. The job title Inspector is still in use, scheduling offers protection because it makes it illegal to undertake a great range of works within a designated area, without first obtaining scheduled monument consent. However, it does not affect the owner’s freehold title or other interests in the land
