Corstorphine Old Parish Church

Corstorphine Old Parish Church began life as a chapel completed in 1405 on the orders of Adam Forrester (later Sir Adam Forrester) who was twice Provost of Edinburgh and owned the lands of Corstorphine. As well as the chapel he built a castle to live in.
The chapel stood alongside an older church, St. Marys that had roots back to the 1100s. After Adam Forrester died (following shortly on from his chapel's completion) his widow Margaret increased financial support to it. Their eldest son John Forrester extended the chapel and it became a collegiate church dedicated to John the Baptist; recognised as such by the then Pope in 1444. Collegiate means that there was a Dean or Bishop who presided over a 'College' of priests who serviced surrounding parishes.
Following on from the reformation, the collegiate was dissolved and in 1593 all worship transferred from St. Marys to the chapel building. St. Marys was demolished in the 1640s, but some stones from it were used to add an entrance porch to the new centre of worship in 1646. At the same time the North Transept was built, which was greatly extended in 1828, when the nave was doubled in size a gallery was built too to help cope with the growing congregation.
In 1905, under the direction of architect George Henderson, a restoration of the church took place to try and return it to its mediaeval appearance. The church is still used for regular worship (as part of the Church of Scotland) and the current Minister is the Rev. Moira McDonald. I take full responsibility for any errors in this write-up!