Holyrood Abbey Church

Holyrood Abbey Church

Holyrood Abbey Church is a congregation of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is based in a late-Victorian church building on London Road, Abbeyhill, around 0.5 miles (0.80 km) north of Holyrood Abbey. The church building was opened in December 1900 as Abbeyhill United Free Church.

The 12th-century Holyrood Abbey served as the parish church of the Canongate until the construction of the Kirk of the Canongate in 1688. Following the Disruption of 1843 in the Church of Scotland, part of the congregation of the Kirk of the Canongate left to form Holyrood Free Church. A new building was constructed by them on Abbey Strand, in front of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. In 1915 this congregation united with Abbeyhill United Free Church, henceforth using the London Road church buildings. When the United Free Church of Scotland united with the Church of Scotland in 1929, the London Road congregation were known thereafter as Holyrood Abbey Church.

The former Holyrood United Free Church building adjacent to the Palace was used for many years as a storeroom, but in 2003 was extensively renovated and reopened as The Queen's Gallery, for art exhibitions from the Royal Collection.

The Abbeyhill building was designed by R M Cameron, and is protected as a category B listed building.[1] The building was extensively upgraded in 2006–2007.

In 2014 the congregation's minister resigned over his disagreement with the Kirk's decision to accept homosexual ministers.[2] Holyrood Evangelical Church, a separate congregation, was then started by those who had left the Abbey Church.[3]

Due to the shortage of Church of Scotland ministers, the recent schism within Holyrood Abbey, and the former minister of the nearby New Restalrig Parish Church (now Willowbrae Parish Church) also leaving the Church of Scotland over similar disagreements, the Presbytery of Edinburgh took the decision to close London Road Church and unite the congregation with the non-dissenting Holyrood Abbey Congregation. The church will be known as Meadowbank Parish Church from February 2017.

References

  1. ↑ "83 London Road, Holyrood Abbey Church: Listed Building Report". Historic Scotland. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  2. ↑ http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/church-of-scotland-minister-resigns-1-3540247#axzz3otRn8xB7
  3. ↑ http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/church-of-scotland-minister-resigns-1-3540247#axzz3otRn8xB7

External links

Coordinates: 55°57′25″N 3°09′50″W / 55.9569°N 3.1640°W / 55.9569; -3.1640

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