St John's Chapel, St Cuthbert's Church and new barracks

Category

Library Item

Item no

18685

Title

St John's Chapel, St Cuthbert's Church and new barracks, Edinburgh

Description

St John's Chapel and St Cuthbert Church are viewed with Edinburgh Castle behind them. St John's Church is built in a gothic style with a tall tower. St Cuthberts has a small tower with a spire and comparatively simplistic architecture. There is a small building opposite St John's with a sign saying 'packing boxes'. Various people travel along the road, either walking, or on horseback or in a horse pulled cart. The rocky outcrop with the castle building on top dominates the background.

Artist / maker

Shepherd, Thomas Hosmer

Engraver

Bond, W H

Date

1829

Size

9.9 x 15.4 cm

Type

Engraving

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

This image comes from 'Modern Athens', a book of engravings based on drawings by Thomas Shepherd published in 1829. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Edinburgh was growing rapidly. The popular neoclassical architectural style of the time was inspired by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and Edinburgh was nicknamed 'Athens of the North'. Shepherd's engravings celebrate the beauty of Edinburgh and show many notable buildings and streets both within the city, and further afield.

St John's Church, situated at the West End of Princes Street in Edinburgh, was built between 1816-18. It was designed by William Burn in the Perpendicular Gothic style. Its location was controversial, and in 1816 an act was passed to prevent any further building on the north side of Princes Street, thus preserving the residents' view of the Castle.
St Cuthbert's Church sits below Edinburgh Castle, to the east of Lothian Road. First records of a church on the site date from 1127. The current building was completed in 1894, retaining the tower that was added to the previous building in 1789.

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