Sunday Worship
Our main Sunday service is at 11am. We currently meet in the church hall, while the needs of our elderly church building are being reviewed. Access to the church hall is down the left hand side of the church building. Please come as you are, and stay for a cup of tea or coffee after the service. Please see updated message from the Rector regarding the church building (May 2024)
Wednesday Reflection group 10.30am in the Sitting Room. Come and join us for any or all of it: 10.30 Bible reflection; 11.15 coffee; 11.30-12 noon prayer. All welcome – just turn up – come down the Ferry Road (north) side of the church and in through Jane’s office.
Dates for your diary:
Ash Wednesday is on 5th March this year. Instead of the Reflection Group we’re having a short Communion service with imposition of ashes and refreshments afterwards. The plan is to have the service in the chancel. Watch this space for more information…
We have a Facebook Page which has information and some photographs of the church’s activities. (The FB page is called ‘St James Church Goldenacre’.) Please follow what we do and ‘like’ us!
Celebrating Art & Architecture at St James’s Episcopal Church, Goldenacre,
Inverleith, Edinburgh EH3 5PX – a Study Day on Saturday 1 March 2025
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]
Programme – 10.15 to 5.00 p.m.
9.00 onwards, registration in the hall behind the church and guided visits.
An exhibition is offered by our Church Architect, Stuart Allan, of Simpson & Brown.
Access to nave, south aisle and baptistery has to be carefully managed until repairs
have taken place. But we hope it will of interest to present the church at this early
stage in an ambitious programme of conservation and transformation. Groups will
move off at 9.15, 9.30 and 9.45 and on registering you should indicate a preference.
10.15 Welcome from the Rector of St James’s, Goldenacre, The Revd Jane
MacLaren
10.30 Opening remarks by Dr Peter Burman MBE FSA, member of the Vestry
10.45 Robert Rowand Anderson, Architect – Dr Sam McInstry, author of the only
book so far written about the architect, Rowand Anderson, Scotland’s Premier
Architect
11.30 Coffee Break
11.55 Return to seats in the Hall
12 noon William Hole, Mural Painter, and the Significance of his Decorative Scheme
of painting in St James’s Church, Goldenacre – Liz Louis, National Galleries of
Scotland
1.00 p.m. Lunch, and further opportunities to examine and enjoy the church and its
works of art at 1.15 p.m. and 1.30 p.m. First come first served.
Stained Glass and Sculpture
2.00 Ballantine & Company – Dr Sally Rush, art historian, University of Glasgow;
Chair, British Society of Master Glass Painters (BSMGP)
2.30 Henry Payne, Arts & Crafts stained-glass artist – Dr Annette Carruthers, author
of The Arts & Crafts Movement in Scotland: a History
3.00 Douglas Strachan, ‘finest British artist of the 20 th century’ – Mark Bambrough,
Stained Glass Conservator-Historian, V-C, British Society of Master Glass Painters
3.30 Tea Break
4.00 Pilkington Jackson’s sculptures in the Baptistery: insights into collaboration –
Kirsty Pilkington Jackson
4.30 Gilbert Bayes, his work at St James’s Goldenacre in a wider perspective – Dr
Alan Powers FSA, Art & Architectural Historian; Past Master of the Art Workers’
Guild
5.00 Drawing together the threads and thanks to all speakers and participants –
Susannah Gravestock, Churchwarden and member of the Vestry
Subject to final confirmation nearer the date.
Booking and other 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
Groups will move off at 9.15, 9.30 and 9.45. 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!
How to get 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
