Duddingston Kirk photos, Location, Scottish Building, Wedding, History, Image, Romanesque chancel arch

Duddingston Kirk Edinburgh

Church, Duddingston Village, southeast Edinburgh, Scotland – with a connection to the Scottish author Sir Walter Scott

post updated 5 January 2024

Location: The Village is located just south of Arthurs Seat

Contact: 0131 661 4240

Duddingston Church

Famous venue for weddings

building photo © Adrian Welch

Duddingston Kirk

Duddingston Church dates from 1124 and contains a Romanesque doorway and chancel arch. The kirk is popular with weddings; it is located near the Loch upon which skated the Reverend Dr Robert Walker – by Sir Henry Raeburn c. 1795 – later inspiring Enric Miralles re the Scottish Parliament MSP ‘thinking ‘windows’.

A famous former minister was the Rev. John Thomson. The writer Sir Walter Scott was an elder of the Kirk under Thomson and the painter Turner visited the Manse.

Old Church Lane building photo © Adrian Welch

Address: Old Church Lane, Duddingston, Edinburgh, EH15 3PX

Sir Walter Scott wrote part of ‘Heart of Midlothian’ in Duddingston Manse garden

This ancient building is Anglo-Saxon, pre-Norman Conquest.

The church was built in or around 1124 by Dodin, a Norman knight, on land granted to Kelso Abbey by King David I of Scotland. As originally built, the kirk consisted of the chancel, nave and square tower.

The traditional pattern of an east–west axis was adopted. The original entrance on the south wall includes a particularly fine example of Scoto-Norman stone carving, with a round-topped doorway.

Following the enlargement of the parish boundaries, the Prestonfield Aisle was added in 1631. This consists of a gallery, downstairs area and burial vaults were on the north side.

In 1968 the kirk’s interior was reconditioned, with the former pipe organ removed. The entrance to the kirkyard from Duddingston village is notable for its gatehouse, built as a lookout point to deter “bodysnatchers” in the early 19th century.