Greyfriars Kirk

Approx. Time: 1 hours
Activity Level: Easy to Moderate

Greyfriars Kirk, whose entrance gates stand near the south end of George IV Bridge, is one of Edinburgh's most historic churches. The churchyard, a pleasant green space, has an air of tranquility that belies its location in the heart of the busy city. This is Edinburgh's oldest graveyard, and it has numerous associations with the history of the town and, indeed, of Scotland. The original Greyfriars was a Franciscan friary, now long gone. The present church, belonging to the Church of Scotland, dates from 1620 and was the first new church to be erected in Edinburgh after the Reformation. The National Covenant, that militant expression of the Presbyterian faith, was signed in the church in 1638. There is another reminder of Scotland's troubled ecclesiastical history in the presence of a memorial to those Covenanters who were imprisoned here, under conditions of great hardship, for their religious beliefs.

Courtesy of the British Tourist Authority

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