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Summary

Description

John Mylne and John Scott, 1637-47 with later alterations by John Baxter, 1785; R and R Dickson, 1828; Robert Rowand Anderson, 1888-9 (see Notes). Highly distinctive Dutch-influenced Classical-Gothic survival style square-plan church with octagonal steeple surmounting landmark clock tower. Pale ashlar with ornate moulded dressings and obelisk finials.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION: Entrance (N) Elevation: 3-bay with pedimented and traceried round-arched windows. Fluted Ionic pilasters, panelled to lower part with obelisk pinnacles. Round-arched timber door to advanced central section with cartouche and key-stoned circular window above; open pediment containing Town Arms. Large, timber double-leaf doors flanking. Tall, 3-stage clock-tower and steeple: lower stage squared with channelled pilasters and traceried window at each face. Above parapet; scrolled clock-faces with octagonal corner piers linked by round-arhed flying buttresses to tall octagonal stage; smaller octagon with round openings above rising to stone spire. E and W elevations: Gabled with 'naïve-and-aisles' treatment. Moulded string course; large round-arched windows flanked by smaller examples; shallow pediments to centre with obelisk finials.

INTERIOR: Fine hammerbeam type roof using sexfoil pattern. Otherwise interior stripped out with foundations of 16th century Marlins Wynd exposed beneath ground level with timber viewing platform and walk-way surrounding.

Leaded stained-glass windows. Grey Scottish slate. Cast-iron rainwater goods with ornamental rainheads.

Statement of Special Interest

Prominently situated at Hunter Square on the junction of High Street with South Bridge, the soaring spire of Tron Kirk is a significant Edinburgh landmark. Re-worked extensively over a 200 year period, this Gothic/Classical hybrid ecclesiastical building remains a nationally significant example of its type. The kirk was founded by King Charles I to house the congregation displaced from nearby St Giles when he made that church a cathedral.

Constructed between 1636 and 1647 to a T-plan design by John Mylne, Royal master mason and one of the last masters of the Scots-Mannerist style. The design mixed Palladian and Gothic elements, with a number of details with a contemporary Dutch influence. Master Wright, John Scott, who designed the internal hammerbeam roof was also responsible for the cinquefoil example at Parliament Hall (see separate listing). The full Chamberlain's Accounts for this project are still extant. The building was truncated in 1785 to rectangular-plan form, involving the removal of one windowed bay from E and W, and the S aisle reduced to a slight pediment projection with detail carefully matched to the original. This work took place to accommodate the construction of Hunter Square and the South Bridge. The kirk's wooden spire, added by Thomas Sandilands on 1671, burned down in 1824 and was replaced in stone in 1828. In 1952 the building closed as a church and was acquired by Edinburgh Council, the congregation moving to a new church in Mordun. It was unoccupied for many years, during which time Robert Rowan Anderson's gallery and pulpit interior of 1888 was removed. The steeple was restored by Andrew Renton, 1974-6. Internal excavations took place in 1974, revealing foundations of 16th century buildings in Marlins Wynd. This earlier fabric has been left visible within the building and the Tron currently houses an exhibition on the history of the Royal Mile (2007). The Kirk gets its name from the salt-tron, a public weighing beam once located outside the church.

Part of Edinburgh's World Heritage Site, the High Street extends from the Lawnmarket to the Canongate. It contains a number of the city's most significant religious and civic buildings including St Giles and Parliament House (see separate listings). As a whole its special architectural and historic interest is outstanding.

List description updated at resurvey (2007/08).

References

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