William Henry Playfair - New College

The church history of Scotland - with regard to schisms and reunions - looks like a railway shunting yard if it is set down on paper.

One of the biggest divisions is known as The Great Disruption. That happened in 1843 when the church more or less split down the middle, largely over the issue of who got to choose a minister for a congregation.

The new church (called the Free Church - but not to be confused with the ultra-Calvinist churches with similar names) suddenly needed buildings, houses, and a college to train its ministers. Playfair was given the commission, and New College was opened in 1846.

After the Free Church and the Church of Scotland got back together in 1929, this building became the training college for the newly reunited Church of Scotland. Then in the 1930's it became the School of Divinity of the University of Edinburgh (formerly the Faculty). The building also houses the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and for a time it was the home of the newly formed Scottish Parliament.

In the 1970s the Faculty of Divinity began offering undergraduate degrees in Theology and Religious Studies, and students in these programmes now make up the majority of the nearly 300 undergraduates enrolled in any given year. Cognisant of its history, the School of Divinity is proud of the international character of its staff and students, welcoming people from many different religious and non-religious backgrounds.

This was where the Pope - John Paul II - came to meet the Moderator of the General Assembly, John Mcintyre. Margaret Thatcher came here to lecture the General Assembly on Christian principles! It was also where I took my second degree in Edinburgh University.