Gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

3^1
EDINBURGH.
head of the wynd bearing his name, and oppo-
site the north-east corner of the Tron Church,
where a square stone, in the figure of a coffin,
pointed out his grave to the passengers, till
the opening of the South Bridge occasioned a
levelling and complete renewal of the pave-
ment, by which Merlin's work and his monu-
ment were at once swept away.
Lady Yester's Church. — In consequence of
the building of the new church on the Castle
Hill being abandoned, the inhabitants still re-
quired church accommodation, but the funds of
the town being exhausted, it was left for the
piety and beneficence of an individual to amend
the deficiency. Dame Margaret Ker, Lady
Yester, in 1647, founded a church in an open
piece of ground, on a field south from the Old
Town, and now forming the north side of
Infirmary Street. She gave the magistrates
fifteen thousand merks for the erection of the
house, and made a grant of a thousand merks
per annum for the stipend of a minister. In
1655, the church had a particular district set
apart for its parish. The original edifice be-
coming ruinous, was rebuilt in 1803, in a plain
style without a spire. It now forms one of
the regular city churches under the patronage
of the town-council. At one time it possessed
a small burying ground, which has been dis-
continued, and, we believe, partly feued out
for buildings.
St. Andrew's Church is situated in the New
Town on the north side of George Street, at a
short distance from its eastern termination.
This edifice was reared in 1781 for the accom-
modation of the inhabitants of the recently
erected streets. The body of the building is
of an oval form, and was originally without a
spire ; but such an ornament was afterwards
added in front. The spire of St. Andrew's
Church is reared on a base and pediment partly
resting on a range of four exceedingly handsome
Corinthian pillars, and rises to a point at the
height of 168 feet. The design of this ele-
gant erection, which is one of the finest ob-
jects in the sky line of the city, was prepared
by John M'Cleish, Esq. surgeon. The parish
attached to this church was formerly part of
the extensive parish of St. Cuthberts.
St. George's Church, was the next ecclesias-
tical structure wliich was reared in the New
Town, having been founded in the year 1811,
and opened in 1814. It occupies a conspicu-
ous situation in the centre of the west side of
Charlotte Square, and forms the terminating
object of George Street on the west. The
edifice is in a massive Grecian style, of a
square form, with a front of 112 feet in length,
in which is a lofty portico supported by four
pillars and two pilasters of the Ionic order.
Behind this opening rises a circular tower,
with a lead-covered dome, to the height of
150 feet, and intended as a miniature imitation
of St. Paul's. The heaviness of the structure
was intended to have been relieved by small
towers on the side buttresses. The church cost
no less than L.33,000 ; but as it contains 1600
people, who pay high seat-rents, a profitable
return is made to the town. It has also a
parochial division out of St. Cuthbert's pa-
rish.
St. Mary's Church — This edifice is situated
in the centre of Bellevue Crescent in the north-
east extremity of the New Town, near Canon-
mills, and was opened in 1824. The body of
the building, which can hold 1800 people, is
of an oblong shape, and it has a front of
considerable elegance, consisting of a portiGO
with a range of pillars of the Corinthian
order, supporting a pediment from which rises
a lofty spire which is at first of a square
and afterwards of a circular form, and is ele-
gant in its details; yet, when taken alto-
gether, is far from being satisfactory. From
want of funds or some other cause, it has been
closed in too rapidly by a species of dome,
which gives it a stumped or docked appear-
ance. This church has likewise a parochial
division taken from the parish of St. Cuth-
bert's.
St. Stephen's Church — While St. Mary's
Church was a place of worship for the eastern
part of the Second New Town, a still more
recent structure, under this title, sentinels the
western district. The situation of this build-
ing is unfortunately and necessarily low ; yet
its appearance at the bottom of a long descend-
ing street is not without a certain degree of
imposing effect. The architecture is of an
anomalous order called Mixed Roman, and
from an obtuse angle, which is turned to the
street, rises a tower of august proportions
1624 f eet W height, and terminated at the top
with a ballustrade, from each corner of which
springs an elegant double cross. This church
was opened in 1828 ; cost L.25,000 ; holds /
1600 persons; and its parochial division was
also from St. Cuthbert's. The foregoing com-