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. 

Books from St Ninian's, Perth

Historian Margaret Lye has published a series of books on Scottish Episcopalians in Perthshire, Angus and Fife. All of them are available to purchase on the St Ninian's Cathedral Website:

The Architecture of Hippolyte Jean Blanc, (1998). This is an honours dissertation at St. Andrews University of about 10,800 words on his church at Broughty Ferry for the Church of Scotland and at Invergowrie for the Episcopalians. £2

The Art of Henrietta Cater in St. Ninian’s MS1 & MS2, (2000): About 11,900 words and 12 colour plates this describes an illuminated manuscript of the Scotch Communion Office (MS1) presented to Bp. Torry in 1847 and decoration of a printed copy of the office (MS2). £3

A Guide to the Building and Development of St. Ninian’s Cathedral, Perth 1847-1914 (2003) About 23,500 words and 9 colour plates on the decision to build and stages in its development. £4

The Diaries of the Very Rev. G T S Farquhar (2007) Farquhar’s diaries cover the years 1881-1927 and amount to over 850,000 words. From 1883 he was based at St. Ninian’s and for most of the time was supernumerary of the diocese. They are in 2 volumes and include Lye’s Introduction of about 15,000 words. £8

A Guide to Episcopal Churches in the Diocese of St. Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, (2010). About 76,900 words and over 90 colour plates. All 49 churches in the diocese are described. £5

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