Tuesday, 22 October 2013

All Hallows Episcopal Chapel at the 1938 Empire Exhibition

The Scotsman, 25 April 1938
EPISCOPAL CHURCH - Timber Building with Wooden Tiles
The architects, Messrs R. Mervyn Noad & Wallace, of Glasgow, have taken full advantage of the site, which is at the end of an avenue. The whole building is of timber roofed with cedar wood tiles. It is approached by two flights of ten steps, between which rises a 24-foot cross. The Glasgow Tree Lovers’ Society has planted the bed of flowers surrounding the base of the cross, as well as two hedges flanking the entrance to the building. Over the door in a niche is a figure of Christ, designed by the late Mr Archibald Dawson, Glasgow. The building is divided into an outer hall, 36 feet long by 24 feet broad, and an inner chapel, 24 feet by 16 feet. The hall has a sense of loftiness and space, as it is 40 feet from the floor to the ridge. The roof is left open, and on the lowest rafters are displayed the shields of the seven diocese, which are the work of Mr. H. Lewis Gordon, Edinburgh There will be an information stand, two show cases devoted to Church history, and cases displaying vestments and work of the Church Crafts League. Over the entrance door is a mosaic plaque of St Margaret of Scotland by Miss O. Carleton Smyth, and a 7-foot angel in plaster by Miss Evelyn Beale, Glasgow, is over the five-fold door leading into th chapel. Two tempera panels by Miss Mabel Dawson, Edinburgh, depict Bishop Kennedy and St Joan. A model of an 18th century meeting-house has been designed by the Rev. R. Henderson-Howat. The hall is intended to be used as a restroom, for which purpose armchairs and tables have been loaned. The chapel will seat 40. Stained-glass figures of St Ninian, St Patrick, St Columba, and St Kentigern by Miss Margaret Chilton, Edinburgh, are in the four windows; whilst the symbols of these saints in the upper parts of the windows were painted on glass by Mr Ralph Cowan, Glasgow. The seating is of oak, arranged with a central aisle.
The Exhibition had three chapels: Church of Scotland, Episcopalian, and Roman Catholic.  The exhibition was not open on Sundays, but on other days there was a daily act of worship in All Hallows. On 13 June,the Revd Duncan Macinnes, rector of St Mary’s, Glencoe, and St Paul’s Church, Kinlochleven, travelled to Glasgow to conduct Gaelic Evensong there, with the choir of St Mary’s Cathedral Glasgow taking part in the service.  On 30 June, Bishop Darbyshire led a radio service from the chapel.
Flags carried in battle by Covenanters and some of their personal relics are included in a special display in the Hall of History, in the Scottish Pavilion south, 1938 being the tercentenary of the signing of the National Covenant.
It had originally been planned to relocate the chapel after the end of the Exhibition, but in the event it was sold on site for £45, because a further £400 was required to restore the site afterwards.

http://thecathedral.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/1938empireexhibition.pdf

Dr Archibald Pitcairne

This week is the 300th anniversary of the death of Dr Archibald Pitcairne, a significant Episcopalian layman and committed Jacobite, and who went to the aid of Sir Isaac Newton during his dark years.  Pitcairne is buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh. According to the DNB he died on 23 October 1713 and was buried on 26th, whilst the tombstone give 26th for his death.

 
I would be interested to learn of instances when Pitcairne makes an appearance in the SEC story.  He probably treated quite a number of early Episcopalians, eg., when the young Countess Dundonald contracted smallpox in Paisley in 1710, Pitcairne summoned Bishop Alexander Rose to her deathbed.
 
Should you be near Greyfriars this week, I hope you can pay your respects to Dr Pitcairne.
 
Roger Edwards

Sunday, 13 October 2013

Meeting in St Ninian's Cathedral, Perth




The Scottish Episcopal Historians met in St Ninian's, Perth, on Saturday 12 October 2013.

Papers included:
  • Margaret Margaret Lye - St Ninian’s Cathedral, Perth.
  • Michael Riordan - The Rosehearty circle and their take-up of Camisard prophecy.
  • Eleanor Harris - British, Bourgeois, but still Belonging: the Episcopalian laity of Charlotte Chapel, Edinburgh 1794-1818.
Recent or forthcoming books and book chapters on Episcopal history include: 
  • Gerald Stranraer-Mull - Steps on the Way 1513-2013.
  • Allan Maclean - Ethnological history of the Episcopal Church
  • Alasdair Raffe (Edinburgh) - The Church's history in the period 1662-1829.
  • David Willington (Perth) - St John's Episcopal Church, Perth - the history of a worshipping community.