Kirk o' Field

Kirk o' Field
Collegiate Church of St Mary in the Fields
Ecclesia Sanctae Mariae in Campis
19th-century depiction by James Skene
Map
55°56′50.16″N 3°11′14.72″W / 55.9472667°N 3.1874222°W / 55.9472667; -3.1874222
LocationEdinburgh
CountryScotland
DenominationRoman Catholic Church
History
Founded13th century
DedicationBlessed Virgin Mary of Consolation
Architecture
Functional statusDemolished
StyleGothic
Closed1560
Demolished1616–c. 1629
Administration
ArchdioceseSt Andrews
ArchdeaconryLothian
DeaneryLinlithgow
Clergy
ProvostFirst: Matthew Ker
Last: John Gibb

The Collegiate Church of St Mary in the Fields (commonly known as Kirk o' Field) was a pre-Reformation collegiate church in Edinburgh, Scotland. Likely founded in the 13th century and secularised at the Reformation, the church's site is now covered by Old College.

The Augustinian monks of Holyrood Abbey held superiority over the church and likely founded it as a centre of education in the 13th century. The church appears to have been raised to collegiate status in the early 16th century. Around this time, erection of the Flodden Wall brought the church just within the bounds of the city and overlooking the Potterow Port, which was also known as the Kirk o' Field Port. After the church was secularised at the Reformation, the town council acquired its land and provostry. The area became the first site of the town's college: later, the University of Edinburgh. The church is also notable for its association with the murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, which took place in the vicinity in 1567.

Contemporary illustrations show the church as possessing a saddle-roofed tower. The most detailed illustration, from 1567, also shows a tall choir and lower nave and transept. The church's ruins were removed in the early 17th century. The site is now covered by Old College. Excavations of Old College quadrangle in 2010 found remains that may be associated with the church.

In 1969 a church on The Pleasance, Edinburgh, adopted the name Kirk o' Field Parish Church, it is now the Greyfriars Charteris Centre.


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