Church of the Holy Cross (Episcopal), 36 Quality Street, Davidson Mains, Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Edinburgh

Description

The Church of the Holy Cross was designed by John More Dick Peddie and was partially built to the architect's original phased design in 1911-1913. It has a cruciform plan (orientated west to east) with a two-bay aisleless nave and is in a simple neo-Romanesque style. At the centre of the building is an unfinished low, square tower with a pyramid roof. The church contains stained glass windows dating to the 1930s by Christopher Webb.

The building is constructed in Corstorphine stone rubble and has smooth ashlar surrounds. The window openings are predominantly round-arched. The gables have triple-light windows and the central light is taller. That in the east end has a hoodmould and stained glass. The entrance in the west gable has a timber-framed porch with turned balusters in the upper section.

In the re-entrant angle (at the southeast corner) is a single-storey vestry. The south gable has a tripartite, flat-arched window with stone mullions. Above the window is a small iron bell that may have come from the corrugated iron church originally at this site. The vestry has a round-arched door opening in the south wall, with a timber door and accessed by a short flight of steps. In the re-entrant angle (at the northeast corner) is a square porch.

There are stained glass windows in the east gable (Webb, 1930) and in the south wall of the nave (from 1990). The other windows are fixed with multi-pane leaded lights. The roofs are steeply pitched and have brown slates. The rafter ends can be seen below the overhanging eaves. The eaves at the chancel end are slightly lower.

To the east and north of the church are rounded coped boundary wall with replacement plain metal railings.

The interior was seen in 2018. The walls are exposed rubble stone. Flanking the crossing are four large chamfered arches in ashlar supported on large corner piers. The roof is supported by scissor-braced rafters, which is supported by carved timber corbels, except the chancel which has carved stone corbels.

In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: the church hall to the west.

Statement of Interest

Designed in a neo-Romanesque style by the prominent Edinburgh architect, J M Dick Peddie, the Church of the Holy Cross is representative of the move in the early twentieth century towards more simplified architectural styles for church buildings. Although not completed to its original plan and relatively modest in terms of its scale, the stone detailing is of high quality, its interior roof structure is striking and the survival of high quality stained glass window by a leading 20th century designer is also notable.

While there has been some internal reordering of furniture and fittings, the building has not significantly altered since the church was opened in 1913.

It is somewhat poignant that the church was never completed because of the advent of the First World War. Located on a prominent corner site in a predominantly residential area, the building is local landmark.

In accordance with Section 1 (4A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 the following are excluded from the listing: the church hall to the west.

Age and Rarity

The church is located in Davidson's Mains, now a suburb of Edinburgh. Davidson's Mains grew dramatically after the arrival of the railway in 1894.

The Church of the Holy Cross was founded in 1898 as a Mission Church of the Diocese of Edinburgh under the leadership of Bishop John Dowden. The congregation started to meet in 1896 for Episcopalian services in the Old Cramond Church Hall (now demolished) and by 1898 became well established and needed a new building.

A prefabricated corrugated iron church was built on the edge of the Barnton House estate, immediately adjacent to its west entrance and just to the north of the present church.

In 1908 the congregation wished to replace this church with a stone building for 300 worshippers, as well as construct a hall and priest house. The new church was estimate to cost £2,500 and work was to start when at least half the money was raised. After considering two other possible sites, the feu for the site of this church was acquired from the Barnton Estate.

In January 1911, J M Dick Peddie was commissioned to make plans and sketches for the proposed building which was to be built in two phases. The first phase included the chancel, two transepts and a tower built to the ridge height. The second phase would extend the nave, add a porch and raise the height of the tower for a bell. The arches and supporting pillars of the crossing are therefore unusually large for the present tower, as they were designed to support a taller tower which was never built. This second phase was first delayed because of the First World War and was then never carried out due to cost.

Construction of the first and only phase began in November 1912 and the church was consecrated on 7 December 1913. The old corrugated iron church was dismantled and taken to Prestonpans to be used as a church by the Episcopalian congregation of St Andrew's (who now worship in the former Free Church). On the south gable of the vestry of the Church of the Holy Cross is a small bell, which members of church believe may have come from the original iron church.

The Holy Cross Centenary Booklet records that after the arrival of Rev Hastie Smith in 1958, the size of the congregation increased. A gallery was built in the north transept, accessed by an outside stair leading to a door in the tall window. This gallery or outside stair is no longer extant and the interior and exterior stonework do not show where this gallery once was.

The sanctuary originally occupied the east end with the choir sitting in the crossing. In 1982 the interior was rearranged, with the altar and its rails being swapped with the choir stalls. Much of the church's furniture is moveable and this rearrangement of the interior fixtures and fittings did affect the fabric of the building.

Churches are not a rare building type and there are thousands that survive in Scotland with around 2,500 which are listed buildings. Most of these buildings are churches from mainstream Christian denominations. From the middle of the 19th century up to the First World War, there was a building boom in churches following on from the 'Disruption' in the Established (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland in 1843. By the early 20th century the sharp rise of population especially in Glasgow and Edinburgh led to a number of new churches being established in new communities and suburbs.

Following the Revolution of 1689 Presbyterianism was established as the national Church of Scotland and the independent non-established Scottish Episcopal Church was formed. A large number Episcopal churches were built in the 19th century, as the lifting of restrictions and penalties on Episcopalians during this period resulted in a boom in church building across the country. Episcopal churches, as a sub-group of Christian churches, are not a rare building type and can be found across Scotland. In 2018 there were over 300 listed Episcopal churches, including over 20 in Edinburgh, which range in architectural styles and level of detailing.

While it is not rare or a particularly early example of a surviving church building for its denomination, The Church of the Holy Cross is a good example of an early 20th century place of worship in the contemporary neo-Romanesque style primarily because of the high quality of craftsmanship in its stone construction and interior features, in particular the braced wooden roof. The later addition of decorative stained glass is also of interest in listing terms.

The church hall to the west of the church was built around 1964. It is a double-height brown brick hall. The interior of the hall was not seen in 2018, and the church's website describes it as having been regularly modernised. For its mid-20th century date the design of the hall is not considered to be of special interest in listing terms. It is excluded from the listing.

Architectural or Historic Interest

Interior

The church interior is simple with limited decoration and interior fixtures and fittings which is in keeping with the neo-Romanesque style of the building. The interior walls are exposed stone, rather than rendered, and as such the stonework is of a high quality. The large stone arches and massive corner piers are particularly prominent feature of the interior. They are unusually large for the small scale of the building as they were designed to support a taller tower. The roof is supported by scissor braced timber trusses supported on carved wood or stone corbels, and this, with the stone arches and the decorative stained glass are the most distinctive features to the interior. The sparseness of the interior is however less typical of Episcopalian arrangements as this denomination is known generally for providing a high degree of interior decoration in its fixtures and fittings in line with a higher level of ritualism forming part of its worship.

The church was originally built with no stained glass windows. The three-light stained glass east window was installed in 1929 and dedicated on 12 October 1930 as a memorial to Dr Silver's father, who helped fund the church. It was created by the renowned English mid-twentieth century stained glass designer, Christopher R Webb (1886-1966) (his signature and date is in the bottom right corner of the window). It depicts the nativity with roundels at the base of the window representing Christian traditions in Scotland as well as the church itself. Webb designed windows for Sheffield, Chichester and Exeter cathedrals.

On the south wall of the nave are two late 20th century stained glass windows by the Scottish designer, Patrick Ross-Smith.

Plan form

The cruciform-plan, a classical and medieval convention in church plan form, was likely specifically chosen to complement the Romanesque design of the church. By the early twentieth century, the adherence to conventional church plan forms was however no longer strictly applied.

Whilst the church is incomplete, its plan form as built in 1913 has not been significantly altered.

There is no special interest under this heading.

Technological excellence or innovation, material or design quality

The Church of the Holy Cross was designed in a simple neo-Romanesque style which by the early twentieth century was preferred by the Episcopal churches as well as other Christian churches seeking to assert a new simplicity in their buildings. At this time, there was also a deliberate reason in selecting an architectural style for a church with some Christian denominations taking a keen interest in pre-Reformation church design to assert symbolically their continuation and authority as the established church in Scotland. According to Gifford, et al., 'the quest for purity led back to the Romanesque, which had a special appeal for rationally minded church goers in the still expanding suburbs [of Edinburgh]' (Buildings of Scotland, p. 43). The design for St Anne, Corstorphine (1912) and Ramsay Traquair's Christian Science church in Inverleith are regarded as important examples of this architectural trend.

J M Dick Peddie's Church of the Holy Cross, of simpler design and detailing, has also taken into account the change in architectural emphasis and is a good example of this early 20th century trend.

The church was never completed to the architect's designs and the resulting building reveals an unusual proportion of the tower to the existing plan and elevation as well as a mismatched arrangement of the window openings.

The church was designed by John More Dick Peddie (1853-1921) who was a partner from 1878 in the highly successful and prolific Edinburgh architectural practice of Peddie and Kinnear. Dick Peddie was a prominent Edinburgh Episcopalian and this association likely helped him gain the commission for the Church of the Holy Cross. He worked extensively for this denomination in and around Edinburgh including the refurbishment of St John's Princes Street.

Setting

The Church of the Holy Cross is prominently positioned on a corner site and is a focal point in its immediate setting which is largely residential.

Until 1827 Davidson's Mains was a small hamlet known as Muttonhole. In 1827 James Gillespie Graham built a row of villas, and Quality Street was established. The construction of a railway branch line from Craigleith, opened in 1894, as with other outlying Edinburgh settlements, saw the dramatic population expansion of this area. Barnton Gate station (renamed to Davidson's Mains Station in 1903) was just to the north of the church.

The area has continued to expand from the early 19th century to present day and many houses have been constructed in the 20th century, particularly to the north of church.

Just to the north of the church ground is a stone well and the gatepiers (listed at category B, LB30053) for the former Barnton Estate. Together with Gillespie Graham's villas (listed at category B, LB29526, LB29527, LB29528 and LB29529) and Quality Street more generally they show the development of this suburb from the early 19th century to the early 20th century.

Regional variations

There are no known regional variations.

Close Historical Associations

There are no known associations with a person or event of national importance at present (2018).

Statutory address, category of listing changed from B to C and listed building record revised in 2019. Previously listed as 'Holy Cross, Church Of The (Episcopal) Quality Street And East Barnton Avenue Davidson's Mains'.

External Links

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