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Celebrating Art & Architecture Study Day
at St James’s Episcopal Church, Goldenacre.
Saturday 1 March 2025, 9.30am – 5pm
A fascinating programme of talks on the artistic and architectural gems of St. James’ Church.
Tours, lunch, and refreshments included.
Venue: 57b Inverleith Row, Edinburgh, EH3 5PX
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Booking details
Our church hall holds 70 people seated, so please book in good time with our Administrator, Wendy Lap
using this link or by emailing stjamesgoldenacre@gmail.com
Group visits to the Chancel and Baptistery will leave at 9:30am, 1:00pm and 1:30pm
Please indicate a preference on booking.
£20,00 donation, please, to cover expenses, e.g. coffee, lunch and teas. But feel free to contribute more if you wish!
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Programme
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Getting here
By Bus: From The Mound or Hanover Street, take the number 23 or 27 bus north. It should take between 10 and 20 minutes to get here. Bus numbers 8 and 9 also stop outside the church.
By Car: Our postcode is EH3 5PX. See map link and image below. Parking on Inverleith Row is free on Saturdays.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/9V7kSKecMwYigng49
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Historical Background
The church as it stands is by Robert Rowand Anderson (1834-1921), ‘Scotland’s premier architect’ in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century. The church was
added on to an existing hall complex and opened for public worship in 1888. Rowand Anderson was himself an Episcopalian and designed a good number of churches for
the Episcopal Church of Scotland. His funeral was held in St James’s church and he is buried ten minutes’ walk away in the historic Warriston Cemetery.
In 1902 another distinguished architect, John James Burnet (1857-1938), who had a family connexion to the church, brought together a team which designed, furnished
and decorated the chancel. The team included the painter William Hole (1846-1917)who had carried out a comprehensive scheme of mural painting linked to decorative work in nave and aisle. In 1922, Burnet master-minded the creation of a Baptistery at the west end of the south aisle. In doing so he worked closely with the sculptor Charles d’Orville Pilkington Jackson (1887-1973) and the stained-glass artist Douglas Strachan (1875-1950), described by Peter Cormack in his book on Arts & Crafts Stained Glass as being ‘the most outstanding British artist of the twentieth century’.
The congregation and its governing body, the Vestry, has a vision for the future which sees the church fulfilling two complementary aims: a place of worship and outreach for local and wider communities, fit for contemporary use with all the facilities we need; and a place of beauty which we will celebrate by carrying out an exemplary programme of conservation and interpretation based on a thorough understanding of what we have inherited from the past. The Vestry has appointed as its Church Architect Stuart Allan of the Edinburgh architectural practice of Simpson & Brown. Other expert advice is provided through our Buildings Committee and through our network of local and national art and architectural historians and conservators. Living nearby is Professor David Walker OBE, doyen of Scottish architectural historians, who has written: ‘What you propose has my full support. St James may not be all that big but the concentration of high-quality artwork, stained glass and furnishing of the Arts & Crafts era has few, if any, parallels in Scotland. One can think of parallels to the individual elements but not the ensemble. I have no objection to the removal of the pews. The interior will be a finer space without them.’ [DW to PB, 19 August 2024]