[Illustration: FIG. 853.--St. Giles’ Collegiate Church. Section through
Crown.]
[Illustration: FIG. 854.--St. Giles’ Collegiate Church. Crown Steeple.]
[Illustration: FIG 855.--St. Giles’ Collegiate Church. Monument of
Regent Murray.]
structure. In 1560 St. Giles’ again became the parish church, with John
Knox for its minister.
Amongst the disturbances of the period, St. Giles’ Church was seized
upon, in 1571, by Kirkcaldy of Grange, who acted for the Queen’s party,
and used it as a fortress. He put soldiers in the roof and tower, who
riddled the vault with holes, so as to shoot down on their opponents.
After the Reformation the church was considered to be too large for
Protestant worship, and in Knox’s time the Magistrates began to cut it
up into sections, so as to form several churches. Other alterations were
made at different times, and parts were appropriated to other than
sacred uses; so that at one time, besides the High Church in the choir
and the Tolbooth Church in the nave, there were included under the same
roof a grammar school, courts of justice, the Town Clerk’s office, a
weaver’s workshop, and a place for the “Maiden,” or instrument of public
executions.
On the introduction, in 1633, of Laud’s new forms of worship, the church
became the see of a bishopric, and the choir was fitted up as a
cathedral.
Between the downfall of Episcopacy in 1637 and its restoration in 1661,
it was once more Presbyterian; but having again become Episcopalian, the
bishop was ejected at the Revolution, and the Presbyterian form of
worship restored. These variations entailed several alterations in the
mode in which the interior was divided up, but the condition of the
building up to this century remained little altered for the better. The
choir still formed a separate church, having galleries introduced round
three sides of it, so as to completely spoil and conceal the
architecture. The nave was divided with walls, so as to contain several
separate churches, and other incongruous accommodation.
The Tolbooth Church occupied the south-west angle, and Haddow’s Hole
Church the north-west angle. The Old Church comprised the south transept
and portions adjoining, and the Preston aisle was partitioned off as a
place of meeting for the General Assembly and other purposes. The dark
portions under the crossing and the north transept were occupied as the
police office.
The alterations and rebuilding of 1829 still left the edifice divided
into three separate churches--the choir was appropriated to the High
Church, the nave was made into West St. Giles’ Church, and the Old
Church occupied the south transept and other portions adjoining. The
police office, however, and the Town Clerk’s office were cleared out,
and the north transept, which was occupied by the former, was converted
into a spacious lobby, from which the three churches entered.
Although the ancient architecture of the exterior of St. Giles’ was
entirely obliterated by the reconstruction of 1829, it should be added
that some advantage was obtained by the removal of the small houses and
booths which had been built against the structure and between the
buttresses. The houses called the Luckenbooths had also encroached far
too close to the edifice, and their removal was a great gain to the
church and the town generally.
The position of affairs in connection with St. Giles’ was as above
described when, as Lord Provost, Dr. William Chambers conceived the idea
of removing the partitions which divided the structure, and again
throwing the whole into one noble building. By his exertions, and
greatly by his pecuniary aid, this object was effected between 1870 and
1883. The opening service after the restoration was performed by the
Very Rev. Dr. Lees, in the presence of a congregation of 3000 people.
St. Giles’ Cathedral, as restored, is now, as regards its interior, one
of the largest and most interesting Gothic buildings in the country.