St Giles' Cathedral: visitor guide and what to look for
Edinburgh: Royal Mile Old Town walking tour
What should I look for inside St Giles' Cathedral?
The Thistle Chapel is the highlight — extraordinarily detailed early twentieth-century craftsmanship with carved stalls for the Knights of the Thistle. Also look for the Robert Burns memorial window, the John Knox statue, and the medieval stone pillars of the nave. Entry is free but a donation is expected.
Five centuries of Scottish history in a single building
St Giles’ Cathedral has stood on the High Street — the central section of the Royal Mile — since at least 1124, though the current building dates largely from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Its crown-shaped spire is one of Edinburgh’s most recognisable features from almost any direction. It is the High Kirk of Edinburgh: not technically a cathedral (St Giles’ lost cathedral status at the Reformation and never regained it), but the name has stuck.
Entry is free, though a suggested donation of around £5 is requested. Unlike Edinburgh Castle, which involves queuing and ticket-buying, St Giles’ can be entered spontaneously in the middle of a walk down the Royal Mile — and it repays proper attention rather than a quick glance inside.
What to look for: a guided tour of the interior
The nave and medieval structure
The four massive central pillars of the nave are medieval, dating from the fifteenth century. The rest of the building was substantially restored in the nineteenth century by William Burn, who removed the accumulated accretions of centuries — shops built against the external walls, partition walls dividing the interior — and returned it to something resembling a single unified space. The restoration was controversial at the time; it remains controversial among architectural historians. The result is a building that looks considerably more coherent and less authentically medieval than it would have appeared in, say, 1700.
The stained glass throughout the nave ranges from good to exceptional. The west window, commemorating Robert Burns, was designed by Leifur Breidfjord and installed in 1985. It is worth a long look.
The Thistle Chapel
The Thistle Chapel, added to the southeast corner of the cathedral in 1911, is the single most remarkable thing in the building and one of the finest examples of early twentieth-century decorative craftsmanship in Scotland. Designed by Robert Lorimer, it houses the stalls of the Knights of the Thistle — the sixteen members of Scotland’s highest order of chivalry, which the monarch personally confers.
Every surface of the chapel is carved, painted, or decorated. The stone angels above the stalls hold banners, flags, and heraldic devices. The carved wooden stalls include misericords (carved wooden ledges hidden under the hinged seats that allowed clergy to rest while apparently standing) with figures of animals, grotesques, and biblical scenes. Look carefully at the arm-rests of each stall, which are carved with the arms of each knight. The Royal stall holds the sovereign’s heraldic devices; other stalls carry the arms of serving knights, and — intriguingly — there is a stall for a Scottish angel carrying bagpipes rather than a trumpet.
Entry to the Thistle Chapel is included with the cathedral visit. It holds about thirty people and queues form on busy days; if the chapel is full, wait five minutes for the previous group to finish.
The John Knox statue and the Reformation connection
The bronze statue of John Knox stands in the nave, pointing characteristically as if mid-sermon. Knox preached at St Giles’ and was instrumental in establishing Presbyterianism in Scotland — a process that involved removing most of the medieval decoration, smashing many of the altars and images, and fundamentally transforming the character of the building. The tensions between the medieval Catholic architecture of the building and the austere Protestant theology of its post-Reformation ministry is one of the interesting paradoxes that the building quietly embodies.
Knox is buried somewhere in Parliament Square immediately outside the cathedral — tradition holds that Grave 44 in the car park (marked with a small plaque in the tarmac) is the likely location.
The Albany Aisle and memorial windows
The Albany Aisle, at the northeastern end of the cathedral, contains a monument to the Marquess of Montrose, the royalist general who was executed in Edinburgh in 1650. The monument was added in the nineteenth century, long after Montrose’s death, and captures something of his romantic status in Scottish history. The nearby Moray Aisle has a particularly fine Victorian stained glass window.
The heart of Midlothian
Immediately outside the main cathedral entrance, set into the cobblestones of Parliament Square, is the Heart of Midlothian — a heart-shaped pattern of setts marking the approximate site of the entrance to the old Tolbooth prison, demolished in 1817. The tradition of spitting on the Heart for good luck is genuine Edinburgh custom, not a tourist invention (though tourists now do it enthusiastically). It is also, inevitably, something of a hygiene challenge on the surrounding cobblestones.
The historic context: John Knox, Mary Queen of Scots, and the Reformation
St Giles’ was at the centre of the Scottish Reformation in the 1560s, a period when Edinburgh was also home to Mary Queen of Scots — whose Palace of Holyroodhouse is a twenty-minute walk down the Royal Mile. The tension between Mary (Catholic, French-educated, politically constrained by Protestant nobles) and Knox (uncompromising reformer, increasingly powerful) played out partly in and around this building. Knox reportedly preached sermons against Mary so fiercely that she wept at his words.
The Reformation stripped the interior of its medieval fittings, statues, and altars. What you see today is partly medieval stonework, partly Victorian reconstruction, and partly a building that has been continuously used and modified across nearly nine centuries of Scottish religious and political life. That continuity — the sense of centuries of argument, ceremony, and prayer accumulating in a single space — is what makes St Giles’ interesting beyond its individual features.
Concerts and events
St Giles’ hosts regular concerts, particularly organ recitals and choral performances. The Harrison and Harrison organ installed in 1992 is one of the finest instruments in Scotland. Concert listings are published on the cathedral website; many performances are free or low-cost. Attending a concert or a service here is a genuinely good way to experience the building in a different register from the standard tourist visit.
Practical information
St Giles’ is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 7pm (5pm in winter months) and Sunday from 1pm to 5pm. The shop and café at the west end of the building are open during visiting hours. The cathedral is fully accessible at ground level, with a lift to the upper gallery. Toilets are available inside.
The nearest Lothian Buses stops are on Chambers Street and High Street. The building sits approximately midway along the Royal Mile, making it a natural stopping point on a walk between Edinburgh Castle and Holyroodhouse.
Taking a walking tour that includes St Giles’
Most general walking tours of the Royal Mile pass St Giles’ and include a stop outside, but few of the shorter tours include time inside the building. A secrets of the Royal Mile walking tour typically covers the cathedral’s exterior history and the Heart of Midlothian in detail. For visitors who want to explore the inside with a guide, a private custom tour is the most flexible option — the Royal Mile guide covers the full range of walking tour options.
Combining St Giles’ with nearby attractions
St Giles’ sits directly adjacent to the Old Parliament House (which houses the Scottish courts and where visitors can sometimes observe proceedings from the public gallery) and is a five-minute walk from the Greyfriars Kirkyard — Edinburgh’s most atmospheric graveyard, with strong connections to the Covenanters and to Greyfriars Bobby. The Edinburgh Old Town history guide provides the broader context for walking this part of the city.
Frequently asked questions about St Giles’ Cathedral
Is it free to enter St Giles’ Cathedral?
Entry is free, though a suggested donation of around £5 is requested. The Thistle Chapel, included in the visit, is among the finest things to see in Edinburgh at any price point. The cathedral does not pressure visitors who choose not to donate.
How long should I allow?
30 to 45 minutes is sufficient to see the main elements — the nave, the Thistle Chapel, the Burns window, and the John Knox statue — properly. If you are attending a concert or taking a guided tour of the interior, allow 90 minutes or more.
Can I attend a service at St Giles’?
Yes. Services are held on Sunday mornings at 8am, 10am, and 6pm, and there are weekday services at various times. The Sunday morning service at 10am is the main service and includes choir music. Visitors are welcome to attend; the service typically lasts about an hour.
When is the Thistle Chapel accessible?
The Thistle Chapel is open during standard visiting hours. On days when an installation of a new Knight of the Thistle is taking place, it may be closed to casual visitors — these events are infrequent and announced on the cathedral’s website.
What is the history of the crown spire?
The distinctive crown spire — four flying buttresses meeting at a central crown — is thought to date from around 1500. Similar crown spires exist on King’s College Aberdeen and St Nicholas church in Newcastle, but Edinburgh’s is the best-known example. The spire narrowly avoided demolition during the Victorian restoration; pressure from the public and architects eventually persuaded the restoration team to preserve it.
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