The reredos at Old Saint Paul’s

Edinburgh: tradition, temperance and tearooms

The high Anglo-Catholic tradition practiced at Old Saint Paul’s is complimented by many of the fitments & fixtures in the church and particularly by the very ornate reredos behind the altar. 

It was installed in 1892, but only in Spring 2016 were the accumulations of dust, candle smoke and incense cleaned off to reveal its original gilded glory. I also felt that it was time to blow some dust off the archives and investigate the origins of this major fixture at OSP.

It was in November 1892 that Rector Canon Mitchell-Innes wrote in OSP Magazine “a long-felt want in the church is about to be fulfilled by a kind gift from a member of the congregation”; this was the donation of the reredos by a Miss Kate Cranston of Edinburgh.  Our Kate Cranston was the cousin of the more famous other Kate Cranston of the “Willow Tearooms” in Glasgow and both Cranston families were very involved in the 19th century Temperance Movement. The families ran “teetotal” hotels, shops and tearooms, both in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London in an attempt to counter the lax alcohol laws of that time. 

An advert for the New Waverley Temperance Hotel, Princes Street, Edinburgh, owned by Robert Cranston and run by his daughter (our) Kate Cranston.

Rector Mitchell-Innes spent a great deal of time and effort in getting both the design and content of the reredos structure correct by consulting the leading clergy of that time. The architect chosen was Hay Henderson of Edinburgh and the famous Zwink family of Oberamergau in Bavaria carved the figures. Letters from Zwink to OSP provide an amusing insight into misinterpretation and mistranslation on both sides, as Zwink assumed we were Roman Catholic, not Scottish Episcopal, and so provided R.C. iconography. Also, the term “ark” was misinterpreted and Noah near ended up holding the Ark of the Covenant!

The cleaned and restored reredos at Old St Paul's, Edinburgh. 

The iconography is complex, but is related to the four sacred offices of Jesus- Prophet, Priest, King and Saviour as exemplified by four, central, major Old Testament Prophets, Moses (prophet), Melchisedek (priest), Solomon (king) and Joshua (saviour). Each major prophet is surrounded by four lesser prophets and all the figures were inserted into the Hay Henderson framework, made by John Gibson, sculptor of Edinburgh. The final assembly lacked the central paintings, but was dedicated by Bishop Dowden in late 1893.

The central painting of “Virgin & Child” was a copy of one by Benozzo Gonzoli and the two side panel paintings were copied from a frieze in the Medici Palace in Venice. Both were added several years later at another dedication service.

This note is a shortened version of two articles I wrote for the Parish Newsletter of Old Saint Paul’s Church called “The White Rose’ in December 2015 & February/March 2016. Full text and illustrations can be read and downloaded at www.osp.org.uk.

Peder Aspen, Archivist for Old Saint Paul’s SEC, Edinburgh.