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We followed Stuart into St. Giles Cathedral, whose actual building dates back to the 14th century, though extensively restored in the 19th century. Dedicated to Saint Giles, the patron Saint of Edinburgh it is said to have been the focal religious point for about 900 years and have had fifty side altars and separate preaching halls by the middle of the 16th century.
It was from there that John Knox is said to have directed the Scottish Reformation. A bronze statue representing him could be seen on one of the aisles.
The stain glass windows started being fit in the 19th century and to be honest I felt they gave a rather peculiar type of luminosity to the whole ensemble with its Thistle chapel (honouring the knights of the most ancient and most noble Order of the Thistle) with a rib vaulted ceiling and carved heraldic canopies.
The Gothic exterior is dominated by a tower said to have been the only part not to have been subjected to renovation.
(To be continued)
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