Talk:St Giles' Cathedral

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The Lead section is much, much too long

Roughly two thirds of it should be moved into other, later sections. Peter K Burian (talk) 17:33, 4 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Peter K Burian:The bulkiness of the lead section is largely my fault. How would the following look instead?

St Giles' Cathedral, or the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is a parish church of the Church of Scotland located in the Old Town of Edinburgh. The current building was begun in the 14th century and extended until the early 16th century; significant alterations were undertaken in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the addition of the Thistle Chapel.^[1] St Giles' is closely associated with many events and figures in Scottish history, including John Knox, who served as the church's minister after the Scottish Reformation.^[2]

Likely founded in the 12th century and dedicated to Saint Giles, the church was elevated to collegiate status by Pope Paul II in 1467. In 1559, the church became Protestant with John Knox, the foremost figure of the Scottish Reformation, as its minister. After the Reformation, St Giles' was internally partitioned to serve multiple congregations as well as secular purposes, such as a prison and as a meeting place for the Parliament of Scotland. In 1633, Charles I made St Giles' the cathedral of the newly-created Diocese of Edinburgh. Charles' attempt to impose a Scottish Prayer Book in St Giles' on 23 July 1637 caused a riot, which precipitated the formation of the Covenanters and the beginnings of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.^[3] The church's role in the Scottish Reformation and the Covenanters' Rebellion has led to its being called "the Mother Church of World Presbyterianism".^[4]

St Giles' is one of Scotland's most important medieval parish church buildings.^[5] The first church of St Giles' was a small, Romanesque building of which only fragments remain. In the 14th century, this was replaced by the current building, which was enlarged between the late 14th and early 16th centuries. The church was altered between 1829 and 1833 by William Burn and restored between 1872 and 1883 by William Hay with the support of William Chambers. Chambers hoped to make St Giles' a "Westminster Abbey for Scotland" by enriching the church and adding memorials to notable Scots. Between 1909 and 1911, the Thistle Chapel, designed by Robert Lorimer, was added to the church.^[1]^[6]

Since the medieval period, St Giles' has been the site of nationally important events and services and the services of the Order of the Thistle take place here. Alongside housing an active congregation, the church is one of Scotland's most popular visitor sites: it attracted over a million visitors in 2018.^[7] CPClegg (talk) 12:11, 9 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I've made this the lead section. CPClegg (talk) 09:00, 30 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ ^a ^b "'HIGH STREET AND PARLIAMENT SQUARE, ST GILES (HIGH) KIRK: LB27381'". historicenvironment.scot. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
^ Gordon 1958, p. 31.
^ Cite error: The named reference SGH was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "'Welcome'". stgilescathedral.org.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
^ Cite error: The named reference Hannah159 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Gifford, McWilliam, Walker 1984, pp. 103-118.
^ Cite error: The named reference Record was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Article name

An editor had moved this article from "St Giles' Cathedral" to "St Giles's Cathedral". I have reverted the move. Moves should be discussed here on the talk page and consensus should be reached: pages moves should not be made unilaterally. For clarity the kirk styles itself St Giles' Cathedral: see here. I am struggling to find any source which uses a different style. Whatever the correct grammatical position may be, as already explained in the discussion further up this page, there is a Wikipedia policy to prefer WP:COMMONNAME and the common name is "St Giles' Cathedral". Dormskirk (talk) 22:50, 12 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Also MOS:POSS says "Official names (of companies, organizations, or places) should not be altered." GA-RT-22 (talk) 23:48, 12 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Dormskirk! CPClegg (talk) 05:37, 13 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

High Kitk

St Giles has not been a cathedral since the Reformation. It is a Presbyterian High Kirk Presbyterians do not have Bishops. 2A02:C7F:CAA:FA00:C1C4:E8D6:67B1:6908 (talk) 17:17, 5 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

St Giles wasn't a cathedral at the Reformation. It held cathedral status between 1633 and 1638 and again between 1661 and 1689. The Reformation was in 1560. There is really no such thing as a 'Presbyterian High Kirk' either. St Giles is just another Parish Church, no 'higher' than any other neighbouring church. Quite why it gets called 'St Giles Cathedral' is a bit of a historic curiosity. Ewan carmichael (talk) 12:28, 15 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[HES-1] "'HIGH STREET AND PARLIAMENT SQUARE, ST GILES (HIGH) KIRK: LB27381'". historicenvironment.scot. Retrieved 4 July 2020.

[Gordon31-2] Gordon 1958, p. 31.

[SGH-3] Cite error: The named reference SGH was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Welcome-4] "'Welcome'". stgilescathedral.org.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2020.

[Hannah159-5] Cite error: The named reference Hannah159 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[6] Gifford, McWilliam, Walker 1984, pp. 103-118.

[Record-7] Cite error: The named reference Record was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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