Thistle Chapel facts for kids
The Thistle Chapel, found inside St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a special chapel for the Order of the Thistle. This is a very old and important group of knights and ladies in Scotland.
The Order of the Thistle was first started in 1687. At that time, King James VII wanted Holyrood Abbey to be the chapel for the Knights. But soon after, a crowd damaged the Abbey's inside, so the Knights never got to use it. Later, in the 1800s and early 1900s, people suggested building a new chapel either at Holyrood Abbey or within St Giles' Cathedral. In 1906, after a generous gift of £24,000 from the sons of Ronald Leslie-Melville, 11th Earl of Leven, King Edward VII ordered a brand new chapel to be built on the south side of St Giles'.
The King chose Robert Lorimer to be the main architect for the new chapel. The people in charge of the project wanted Scottish artists and craftspeople to do the work, to show off Scotland's talent. Lorimer brought together a team of top artists from the Scottish Arts and Crafts movement. This included Phoebe Anna Traquair for beautiful enamel work, Douglas Strachan for stained glass, and Joseph Hayes for amazing stone and wood carvings. Only a few main artists, like Louis Davis (stained glass) and the Bromsgrove Guild (bronze parts), were from outside Scotland. Building the chapel started in November 1909 and was finished just over a year later. When it officially opened in July 1911, King George V made Lorimer a knight because of his excellent work. Even today, new Knights have their special plates, crests, and banners added, keeping the chapel's tradition of amazing craftsmanship alive. The Knights of the Thistle still meet in the chapel at least once a year.
Experts who study buildings say that Lorimer did a great job using a small space to create a tall, impressive Gothic building with lots of detailed artwork. Many also highlight how important the chapel is as a result of the Arts and Crafts movement. This movement focused on individual artists working together to create a beautiful overall effect. Some experts also see the chapel as a symbol of Scottish pride and loyalty to the British monarchy.
Contents
A Look Back: The Chapel's Story
Why Holyrood Abbey Didn't Work Out
On May 29, 1687, King James VII started the Order of the Thistle. He decided that Holyrood Abbey would be the chapel for this new group. Because of this, the church members who used the Abbey had to move to the Canongate Kirk.
For about a year and a half, William Bruce worked to change the Abbey. They added an altar, a black and white marble floor, and fancy wooden stalls from London. However, the Order of the Thistle never got to meet in their new chapel. On December 10, 1688, after King James was removed from power, a crowd from Edinburgh broke and destroyed the chapel's new furnishings.
Ideas for a New Chapel
Even though the Order was restarted in 1703 by Queen Anne, it didn't have a special chapel for a long time. In 1728, a historian named William Douglas suggested fixing up the old St Rule's Church near St Andrews Cathedral for the Order.
Later, in 1872, people started suggesting that the chapel should be in St Giles' Cathedral. In 1879 and 1882, a church official named Lindsay Mackersy and the church leaders suggested using the south part of St Giles' as the chapel. But none of these ideas worked out.
In 1836, architects James Gillespie Graham and Augustus Pugin had made plans to fix Holyrood Abbey to be the chapel. These plans weren't used then, but the idea came up again in 1905. That's when Ronald Leslie-Melville, 11th Earl of Leven set aside £40,000 to restore Holyrood Abbey for the Order. However, after an investigation by Thomas Ross, it was found that Holyrood Abbey couldn't be properly restored.
Building the Chapel
When the Earl died in 1906, his sons received the money. They offered £22,000, plus another £2,000 for upkeep, to build a brand new chapel. King Edward VII chose a group of trustees, including important people like the Duke of Buccleuch and the Earl of Rosebery, to oversee the project. Thomas Ross was their architectural advisor. The King told the trustees to ask St Giles' Cathedral if they would host the new chapel. On March 12, 1909, the Cathedral happily agreed.
The trustees then chose Robert Lorimer as the architect. The King approved Lorimer's plans, and building started quickly. The first building agreement was signed on August 24, 1909, and the first stone was laid on November 6 of that year. Joseph Hayes was chosen by Lorimer to do all the detailed carvings.
The Chapel was finished by autumn 1910, just in time for the Knights' first meeting on St Andrew's Day. King George V officially opened the Chapel with a big ceremony on July 19, 1911. During the opening, police even hid in the basement to protect against possible damage from women fighting for the right to vote. After the ceremony, the King met all the artists and craftspeople who worked on the chapel, and Lorimer was soon made a knight for his amazing work.
The trustees really wanted the Thistle Chapel to be a "national thing," meaning they wanted Scottish artists to be chosen first. Lorimer, who believed in the Arts and Crafts movement's focus on teamwork and skilled work, had already put together a team mostly from Edinburgh. Only Louis Davis, who designed the stained glass with coats of arms, and the Bromsgrove Guild, who made decorative metalwork, were from outside Scotland. The chapel was built so quickly because of how skilled this team of craftspeople was.
What Happened Later
The old boiler room under the Chapel was updated in 1982. Between 1987 and 2019, there was a cafe right below the Chapel.
In 2006, the Chapel had a big cleaning and repair project that lasted over four months. This was the first major upkeep the Chapel had ever had.
The Thistle Chapel was temporarily closed to visitors in February 2015 after some valuable items were stolen. It reopened to visitors the next year.
The Chapel's Design
The Thistle Chapel has a simple shape. It has three main sections and a rounded east end, but no side aisles or cross-shaped parts. Below the chapel is a basement area. Next to the chapel is an entrance hall, which connects to other parts of St Giles' Cathedral and has an outside door leading to Parliament Square.
The chapel is built in a tight spot, right on the edge of St Giles' Cathedral and surrounded by Parliament Square. The church leaders also wanted to make sure the chapel didn't block light from the Cathedral or get in the way of services. To make it feel grand, Lorimer designed the chapel to be unusually tall. Even though it's only about 5.5 meters (18 feet) wide and 11.5 meters (36 feet) long, it soars up 13 meters (42 feet) high!
When he got this job, Robert Lorimer was in the middle of his career. He had designed homes, but his only other big church project was St Peter's Roman Catholic Church. John Fraser Matthew, who would later become Lorimer's business partner, helped him design the chapel. Lorimer's design was inspired by late 1400s Gothic architecture, and its shape and curvy stone patterns show the influence of George Frederick Bodley.
The chapel is built from sandstone from Cullalo in Fife. This is the same stone used for the outside of St Giles' Cathedral during its restoration in the 1800s, and for the Law Courts across Parliament Square. So, the Thistle Chapel looks like it belongs with St Giles' and the other buildings around it.
Outside the Chapel
On the outside, the chapel's base has many horizontal carved lines. From these lines, tall, pointed buttresses rise up. These buttresses end at a decorative ledge below a castle-like wall. This wall hides the flat roof. According to historian Christopher Hussey, the way the buttresses lean inwards makes the chapel look even taller and more solid.
The buttresses divide the outside into sections. In each section, a sloping base with small, window-like ventilation holes leads up to a smooth wall. Below each window is the coat of arms and coronet (a small crown) of a Knight who was part of the Order when the chapel was built. The curvy stone patterns of these windows look like the old medieval patterns found in St Giles'. At the east end, the wall rises to hold a statue of Saint Andrew in a special carved space.
At the west end, there's an eight-sided tower with a small spire. This tower holds a spiral staircase that goes up to the roof. The west window sticks out like a bay window, and the west wall has a stepped, crow-stepped design.
Between the south wall of St Giles' and the north side of the Chapel, a wide set of steps leads up to the east door. This door goes into the ante-chapel. This round-arched doorway is from the 1400s and was originally at the south entrance to St Giles'. It was moved and reused several times during earlier renovations of the Cathedral. When the Thistle Chapel was built, this old doorway was kept and became the entrance to the ante-chapel. Above the door is a heavy carved band with coats of arms.
Inside the Chapel
The Ante-chapel
The ante-chapel, or entrance hall, is about 7.6 meters (25 feet) long and 4.3 meters (14 feet) wide. It has two sections. On the west side, arches open into St Giles' Cathedral. The outside door is on the east wall. In the southwest section, a pointed arch with angels carved on it frames the door to the main Chapel. This arch also has a carving and words remembering Ronald Leslie-Melville, 11th Earl of Leven. On the walls of the two eastern sections, you can see the names of the Kings, Queens, and Knights from when the Order started in 1687 until the chapel was built in 1909. A glass porch was added inside the east door in 1983.
The ceiling of the ante-chapel is a shallow, ribbed vault with many carved bosses (decorative knobs). The central bosses show Saint Andrew and the Lion Rampant (the Scottish lion). There are 57 bosses and over 70 tons of stone in this ceiling!
The design of the chapel required the ante-chapel ceiling to be low so it wouldn't block light from the Cathedral windows. Lorimer cleverly used this to his advantage. By making the ante-chapel feel small and a bit dark, it makes the tall, grand main Chapel feel even more impressive when you step inside.
The Main Chapel
The main Chapel has three sections, a rounded east end, and a flat west end. Above the rows of seats, there are tall, pointed windows. The single window at the east end is flanked by angels. At the west end, a single bay window is framed by a pointed arch. In the northwest two sections, carved stone patterns that look like windows frame carvings of the coats of arms of several Dukes and Earls.
A shallow, ribbed vault ceiling covers the tall interior of the Chapel. While its height is very different from the ante-chapel, its design is similar, with large, impressive bosses dominating the ceiling. At the center of each section, there's a half-angel playing a different musical instrument. These musical angels might have been inspired by similar carvings at Melrose Abbey and Rosslyn Chapel. Among the leafy bosses – many showing national flowers of the UK – there are also angels holding the coats of arms of the eight original Knights and the six Knights added by Queen Anne.
The huge central bosses show, from west to east, the Royal arms of Scotland, Saint Giles, the star of the Order of the Thistle, Saint Andrew, and the Pelican feeding her young. Lorimer believed that the art of vaulting was at its best in the Perpendicular period of Gothic architecture, and he designed the vault in that style. At the same time, he used large, strong bosses to remind people of Scottish medieval buildings. Lorimer's choice of angels with coats of arms and leafy bosses may also have been inspired by similar stone carvings in the nearby Preston Aisle of St Giles'. There are 98 bosses and over 200 tons of sandstone in the Chapel ceiling; some of the larger bosses weigh over a ton each!
Amazing Stonework
The company A. Colville & Co. was in charge of the stonework. The detailed carvings were done by Joseph Hayes and his team. Over 1000 tons of stone were carved at their workshop, then moved by horse and cart to St Giles', where some final touches were added as the stones were put in place. Even though Hayes and his team had some freedom in their designs, Lorimer always had the final say.
The most detailed carving was done by a person known only as "the Greek." Another member of Hayes' team was Alexander Carrick, who later became a famous sculptor himself. Louis Deuchars made plaster models that Hayes and his team used to create the carvings. Alfred Nixon added the heraldic designs (coats of arms).
The Chapel floor is made of Ailsa Craig granite with panels of Iona marble. This was laid by Allan & Sons. On July 4, 1962, a special floor plaque remembering George VI, designed by Esmé Gordon, was revealed by Queen Elizabeth II. This plaque was made by Stewart McGlashan & Sons and has a granite panel with a bronze border and letters. The Royal Arms of Scotland are made from inlaid marble pieces.
In 1927, Pilkington Jackson carved the names of the Knights and Sovereigns of the Order of the Thistle from 1687 to 1909 into the walls of the ante-chapel.
Beautiful Woodwork
The company Nathaniel Grieve was given the job of creating the oak interior woodwork. Grieve's workers made the wood panels and the leafy borders. The most detailed woodwork was carved by two brothers, William and Alexander Clow, mostly from designs by Louis Deuchars. The Clow brothers worked almost only for Lorimer.
Lorimer based the design of the Knights' stalls (seats) on those found at St George's Chapel, Windsor. Each stall has an animal on its armrest. Some of these animals were based on the animals in the Knights' coats of arms and were carved by the Clow brothers from Lorimer's rough drawings. Each armrest has a twisting pillar that supports a canopy over the stall. On each point of these canopies is an angel, with two angels above the points of the Sovereign's (King or Queen's) stall. Between the canopies are angels playing musical instruments. Deuchars designed each angel to look unique.
Above each canopy are three small carved spaces. The spaces above the Sovereign's stall hold sculptures of Saint Mungo, Saint Margaret of Scotland, and Saint Columba. Above the spaces of each Knight's stall are tall, spiky spires topped with the coronet, helm (helmet), and crest of each Knight. A decorative sword stands in line with each spire.
The Sovereign's stall, in the center of the western end, is especially detailed. Its spire is 10 meters (33 feet) tall! The two stalls next to it, which are for royal Knights, get shorter in height, leading down to the regular Knights' stalls, which are 7.6 meters (25 feet) tall. The book rest in front of the Sovereign's stall has a large panel with the full Royal Arms of Scotland. On the ends are the coats of arms of Queen Anne and James VII.
The lower part of the rounded east end is paneled and topped with a continuous canopy of curved arches below a carved wall. The paneling in the central section above the holy table is the most detailed. It includes a sculpture of a winged figure defeating a dragon, which represents evil. This might represent Saint Margaret of Antioch.
Moxon & Carfrae painted and stained the wood. This company later got the job of maintaining the woodwork.
Furniture in the Chapel
Several wooden furniture pieces were added when the Chapel was built. These include the Dean's chair and book rest, and the lectern (reading stand) and reader's seat. A credence table (a small side table), designed by Lorimer and carved by Nathaniel Grieve, was added in 1920. This table is in the north alcove of the rounded end. The table was made to go with a silver chalice (cup) and paten (plate) donated by Sir John Hatt Noble Graham. Nathaniel Grieve also made a seat and desk for an attendant in the ante-chapel in 1927. Eight oak stools were added in 1934.
As a memorial to George V, a communion table with a short back piece was ordered. This was designed by John Fraser Matthew. The front of the table shows the Lamb of God, and the back piece has symbols of each person of the Trinity. This table replaced the investiture chair at the east end of the Chapel. The unveiling of the table by George VI was planned for autumn 1939, but the start of the Second World War delayed it until July 1943.
Knight's Crests
On top of the spire above each Knight's seat is a carved coronet (small crown), helm (helmet), and the crest (symbol) of the Knight currently holding that seat. When a Knight dies and a new one is appointed, the old Knight's crest is replaced with the new one's.
From when the Chapel was built until 1966, the crests were carved by the main carver of Scott Morton & Co. Moxon & Crafrae originally colored the crests, but later A.C. Wood & Son took over this job. Whytock and Reid carved the crests until 1983. Since then, John Donaldson has done the work.
Colorful Stained Glass
The trustees wanted Robert Lorimer to use a Scottish artist for the Chapel's stained glass. But Lorimer preferred Louis Davis, a stained glass designer from London. As a compromise, Davis was asked to design seven windows showing the coats of arms of the Knights when the Chapel was built. The Scottish artist, Douglas Strachan, was asked to design the east window, which shows Saint Andrew.
Each window with coats of arms is divided into two main sections by a central stone bar, with a coat of arms in each section. Lorimer insisted that the arms be surrounded by clear glass to let light into the Chapel. For this clear glass, Davis, like other artists of the Arts and Crafts movement, preferred slightly imperfect "brown" glass over perfectly clear "factory" glass. In the top part of each window, there's a zodiac sign, designed by Davis's frequent helper, Karl Parsons.
Going clockwise on the north side, the coats of arms shown are: the Marquess of Zetland and the Earl of Erroll; the Marquess of Aberdeen and Lord Hamilton of Dalzell; the Duke of Roxburghe and the Earl of Haddington; Lord Balfour of Burleigh and the Earl of Home; the Earl of Rosebery and the Duke of Fife; and the Duke of Buccleuch and the Duke of Atholl. The single west window, also by Davis, shows the Royal Arms of Scotland.
Strachan's single east window shows Saint Andrew above the Royal Arms of Scotland. Above Saint Andrew are two angels holding his cross and a martyr's crown. What's unusual is that Andrew is shown as a fisherman, not at the time of his death. As Elizabeth Cumming described, "Strachan's figure holds a natural pose, and presents Andrew as a rugged, working fisherman, his net firmly held in his arms."
In 1982, small stained glass windows replaced the ventilation grilles in the old boiler room below the Chapel. These were designed by Christian Shaw and show the days of creation.
Metalwork Details
The beautiful wrought-iron gates of the ante-chapel and the iron parts of the Chapel's doors were made by Thomas Hadden and his workshop. Hadden based the design of the gates on medieval rood screens (decorative screens in churches). Hadden had worked with Lorimer before on other projects.
Hadden's workshop also made the bronze curtain rails at the east end and the helms (helmets) on top of each Knight's stall. The coronets (small crowns) below the helms were made by T.K. Ebbutt and painted by Moxon & Carfrae. Ebbutt also made special ceremonial keys for the Chapel, which show Saint Andrew.
Hanging electric lamps were made by the Bromsgrove Guild based on models by Louis Deuchars. These lamps feature angels holding torches above a hanging part showing the Pelican feeding her young. When the east end was changed in 1939, a new lamp was supplied. Over the years, some of these hanging parts went missing, and one lamp was stolen. In 2006, new replacements were made. The Bromsgrove Guild also made the handles and keyhole covers for the Chapel door.
Along with the communion table revealed in 1943, a silver-colored bronze cross was added at the east end. Designed by John Fraser Matthew, the cross has square enamelled panels at each end, showing the symbols of the Four Evangelists. These panels were designed by Morris Meredith Williams and enamelled by Harold Conrad William Soper.
Other metalwork, like door locks and hinges, was made by Low & Methven, and external lead piping was done by W. Dodds & Sons.
Stall Plates: A Knight's Mark
The coat of arms of each Knight is shown on a special plate attached to the back of their stall (seat). When a Knight dies, their plate stays there, and a new plate is added when a new Knight is appointed. This tradition is common in the United Kingdom's orders of chivalry, similar to the plates for Knights of the Garter at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle since the 1400s.
At first, Knights were seated by how long they had been in the Order, with the most senior ones closest to the King or Queen. As older Knights died, the others would move up to more senior stalls, and their stall plate would move with them. This means many of the original plates are now at the western end of the Chapel. Since the 1920s, each Knight's stall plate has stayed on the same stall, no matter how senior they are.
The first stall plates in the Chapel were made by Phoebe Anna Traquair. At the time the Chapel was built, Traquair was a well-known artist in Scotland's Arts and Crafts movement. Even though Robert Lorimer was good friends with Traquair, he first wanted Harold Conrad William Soper to make the enamel stall plates. However, Herbert Maxwell, representing the trustees, suggested Lorimer hire Traquair because she was an Edinburgh-based artist. According to Charles Burnett, Traquair's stall plates are "quite unlike any chivalric stall plates seen before." Working from her home studio, Traquair used a special technique called champlevé, setting vitreous enamel over foil to create shiny, jewel-like surfaces.
James Balfour Paul, the main heraldic authority in Scotland, preferred a "cut-out" style of stall plate, like the earliest ones at Windsor. This style shows the arms without any background or frame. This style has been used since 1911, giving the Thistle stall plates a unique, consistent look. He also ordered that for complex coats of arms, only the first main section should be shown.
Traquair made the nineteen stall plates needed for the Chapel in 1911. After that, the stall plates were made by Elizabeth Kirkwood, who was influenced by Traquair's technique. She also added more shape to the helm and mantling (fabric draped from the helm) of the arms to make them look more three-dimensional. Since 1963, the arms have been made by A. Kirkwood & Son. Since 1990, resin has been used instead of enamel. The stall plates of the Marquess of Bute (1922) and the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres (1955) were made by Harold Conrad William Soper.
All the heraldic details in the chapel were based on drawings by John Sutherland, who designed stall plates until 1928. Since then, the stall plates have usually been designed by the official Herald Painter to the Court of the Lord Lyon.
Special Textiles
When the Chapel was built, Nell Kay Drew made the mantling (decorative fabric) to hang from the helms on top of each Knight's stall. The mantling above the Knights' stalls is made of damask fabric, while the mantling above the royal stalls is made of cloth of gold. Whytock & Reid supplied two sets of brocade curtains for the east end: one green set for everyday use and a red set for use during the Order's services.
In 1935, Captain William Dunn donated an old Spanish altar cloth to the Dean of the Thistle, Charles Warr. This cloth belongs to the Order and is kept at St Giles'.
When the Chapel opened in 1911, they couldn't find a good way to hang the Knights' banners inside. King George V eventually decided no banners would be hung there at all. Since 1953, the Knights' banners have been hung in the nearby Preston Aisle of St Giles' Cathedral.
How the Chapel is Used
The Knights of the Thistle usually meet for worship in the Thistle Chapel every other year when new Knights are officially welcomed by the monarch. They also meet every year on the Sunday closest to Saint Andrew's Day. This annual service was started by King George V.
At the installation service, the King or Queen arrives from Holyrood Palace and then walks into St Giles' Cathedral with the Knights and officers of the Order. In the Chapel, a new Knight is led to their seat and takes an oath. After the installation, the King or Queen and the Knights worship in the Cathedral.
Since December 1949, a special Bible with a binding designed by Linton Lamb has been used at every Thistle service. This Bible was given by George VI to celebrate his daughter's marriage.
Services of the Order are led by the Dean of the Thistle. Since 2019, this role has been held by the Reverend Professor David Fergusson.
Why the Chapel is Important
When the Thistle Chapel was built, Robert Lorimer was already known for designing homes. But the Thistle Chapel was his first big church building in the "full Gothic" style. Even so, the Thistle Chapel made Lorimer known as "Scotland's leading expert in Gothic architecture." This was shown by him being made a knight and getting other major Gothic projects, like restoring Dunblane Cathedral and Paisley Abbey, and later designing the Scottish National War Memorial. In the Thistle Chapel, according to Stewart Matthew, "the very essence of Gothic architecture was achieved: an emphasis of the vertical which gives a sense of reaching upwards beyond material confines." This means the chapel's design makes you feel like it's reaching up to the sky.
The Thistle Chapel also comes from a time when Scottish architects were trying to create a unique Scottish style of church architecture. Experts say the Thistle Chapel is "the most clear example of the nationalist trend in church architecture." They compare its "richness" and "detailed work" to other Scottish churches of the time.
Besides being an important Gothic building, the Thistle Chapel is also seen as a "beautiful jewel of the entire Arts and Crafts movement." Many experts agree that the chapel's overall beauty comes not just from Lorimer's design, but from the teamwork and skill of all the individual artists and craftspeople. This was a key idea of the Arts and Crafts movement.
Many people also see the national and political importance of the Chapel. Charles Burnett notes that when the Thistle Chapel was finished, "the ancient realm of Scotland had clawed back a major element in the unique identity of the country." This means it helped Scotland feel more unique and important. Stewart Matthew also said the Chapel gave Edinburgh "one of Scotland's richest architectural wonders of the 20th century" and made the city the center of Scotland's most important order of chivalry. Some experts describe the building's design as being "motivated less by religious 'worshipfulness' than by imperial Scottish patriotism." This means it was built more to show Scottish pride and loyalty to the British Empire than just for religious reasons.
See also
- St Giles' Cathedral
- Order of the Thistle
- Robert Lorimer
Images for kids
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The interior of the Thistle Chapel, looking west
