Church History

There have been people living in Craiglockhart since the Iron Age and the remains of their hill fort can still be found on top of Craiglockhart Hill, the site of the easter early morning service held every year by the church. The first known landowners were the Lockharts of the Lea who were given the estate by Robert the Bruce and it may have been they who built the little tower, the ruin of which is visible in the grounds of Napier University. Bonnie Prince Charlie's army camped at Graysmill before entering Edinburgh in 1745. Perhaps the most famous residents of Craiglockhart's mansion house were the Munro family, three of whom, in the late eighteenth - early nineteenth centuries, were professors of anatomy at Edinburgh University.

On the slopes of Easter Craiglockhart is to be found Old Craighouse, where Mary, Queen of Scots stayed several times. It is now surrounded by the nineteenth century buildings of the Thomas Coulson Clinic,an innovative hospital for those with mental health problems. It is now a part of Napier University, as is the Craiglockhart Hrdyopathic Hotel, which became an hospital for officers during the Second World War. Its most famous residents were Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.

With the arrival of the railways in the nineteenth century parts of the estate were sold for housing and large villas were erected along Colinton Road. Ultimately, in 1880, a congregation of the Church of Scotland was founded to serve what was then a rural community focused on the village of Slateford. At first the congregation met in a 'tin tabernacle' until, in 1889, the nave of what was intended to be a much larger church was built. In 1899 the same architect, George Henderson, added the tower and spire. The rest of the building was never built but as the housing grew between the two wars the church building became the focus of community life and in the 1950's and 1960's halls were added with a new complex in 1992. In the future it may be that the congregation will have to rise to the challenge of even more new accomodation.