Description

Firm of Morton & Scott, Liverpool, 1876, moved from North Merchiston and re-erected 1884. Cruciform gothic chapel with 2 entrance porches, bellcote to E end. Rivetted corrugated-iron with timber window frames and surrounds. Concrete base; plain barge boards to gables; pointed-arch lancet windows with delicate hoodmoulds and transoms at springing line.

NAVE AND CHANCEL: E and W elevation with 3 tall stepped lancets (to E enlarged with later plate glass window), E gable with trefoiled gable infill and open bellcote with pyramidal spire; W wall with small kingpost and cast-iron finial, some modern windows and secondary door. 2 bipartite lancets to N and S elevations of chancel. Gabled entrance porches in re-entrant angles with transepts; continuous row of 4 pointed arch windows; pointed arch doorway on return with timber fanlights and small kingposts.

N AND S TRANSEPTS: gabled with kingposts and 3 stepped lancets in end elevation. Windows with square leaded panes; corrugated iron sheets to roof.

INTERIOR: false ceiling, bases of timber corbels alongside walls.

Statement of Interest

This is a rare surviving corrugated iron church which retains its distinctive bellcote and symmetrical gabled entrance porches. The church was originally erected as St Michael's Parish Church on Slateford Road, Edinburgh in 1876. When the new stone St Michael's Church was built in 1888, this corrugated iron one was bought by the Royal Edinburgh Hospital and erected in the hospital grounds. The church appears on the 1893 Ordnance Survey Map of the hospital as having seating for 400. It was not uncommon for corrugated iron churches to be built to serve new communities as they were cheap and easy to build.

By the second half of the 19th century, there were many different designs for corrugated iron churches offered by a variety of companies in Britain. Francis Morton and Company in Liverpool was one which began to specialise in the 1860s in corrugated churches and chapels. The design here is one of the more decorative ones with a prominent bellcote and symmetrical porch entrances with fine detailing in the bargeboarding and gothic windows.

Corrugated iron buildings became popular in the mid-19th century throughout Scotland, as they could be erected quickly. They served as a number of differing building types including churches, community halls and houses. They were intended as temporary structures, which made them ideal for multiple re-use as here, but also contributed to their disappearance.

Notes updated (2013)

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17812066

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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