| | Greyfriars Kirkyard 
The Kirkyard was the scene of important event sin Scottish history. It was in the Kirk itself, not in the Kirkyard, that the National Covenant was signed in 1638; but some 1200 Covenanters, taken as prisoners after the Battle of Bothwell Brig in 1679, were held for months in what became an open-air concentration camp. The term "Covenanters' Prison", which is used to refer to the South yard, recalls that time, although that specific area had not then been delimited. the town's property stretched from the boundary wall of Heriot's Hospital to what is now Bristo Place, and it may all have been used for the purpose.
1-7. Early 17th Century monuments
8. George Heriot senr 1610
9. John Gray 1858
10. John Watson 1762
11 Henry Mackenzie 1831
12. The Martyrs' Monument 1717
13. John Bayne of Pitcarlie 1681
14. Dundan Ban MacIntyre 1812
15. James Craig 1795
17. Trotter of Mortonhall 1641
18. James Douglas, Earl of Morton 1581
2 UNMARKED GARAVES IN THIS AREA
Thomas Ruddiman 1757
John Kay 1757
19. Thomas Bannatyne 1635 & Wife
20. Foulis of Ravelston 1636
21. George Watson 1723
22. John Jackson 1606
23. Elizabeth Paton 1676
24. John Porteous 1736
25. George Bucham 1582
26. Alex Murray1813
27 Thomas Roberts 1686 |
28. Memorial stones removed from
the old Greyfriars Kirk after the fire in1845
Sir John Skene 1633
Lord Provost, David Aikenhead 1637
29 James Boswick of Stow 1676
30 Mort Safe
31 Duncan Forbes of Culloden 1747
32 William Cowper 1619
33. Serveral memorials among them
Allan Ramsey 1758
His son 1784
Colin Maclaurin 1746
Hugh Blair 1800
34. The Mausoleum of the Little Family
35. Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh 1691
36. Miller of Dalswinton 1815
37 Sir Hugh Cunningham of Craigend (Boniton) 1705
38. Mary Eskine 1707
39. James Hutton 1797
40. Patroick Fraser Tyler 1849
41. Joseph Black 1799
42. Mausoleum - William Adam 1748
43. Mausoleum- William Robertson 1793
44. Alexander Munro 1767 &1817
45. Alexander Henderson 1646
46. William Carstares 1715 |
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Greyfriars Tolbooth & Highland Kirk Greyfriars Place, Edinburgh, EH1 2QQ 0131 226 5429 Visit their web site
 Greyfriars in Scotland's history
The kirk has a significant place in Scottish history.
In 1638 the National Covenant, a document of great importance in the history of Scotland, was presented and signed in front of the pulpit.
In 1679, some 1200 Covenanters were imprisoned in Greyfriars Kirkyard pending trial.
In the 19th Century the minister Dr. Robert Lee led a movement to reform worship, introducing the first post-Reformation stained glass windows and one of the first organs in a Presbyterian Church in Scotland.
Greyfriars, now home to the congregation of Greyfriars Tolbooth and Highland, stands in grounds that had belonged to the Franciscan convent in the Grassmarket - hence the name Greyfriars. It was the first church built in Edinburgh after the Reformation. In 1562 Mary Queen of Scots had granted the land, which was then on the outskirts of the city, to the Town Council for use as a burial ground. The Flodden Wall and later Telfer Wall can still be seen in the Kirkyard. By 1602 building had started re-using stonework from the Dominican convent at Sciennes. Progress was Slow, and the new church did not open until Christmas Day 1620.
added 0131 226 5429
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