The Magdalen Chapel was built around 480 years ago. It is situated in Cowgate, just off the Grassmarket, in the heart of Edinburgh’s historic Old Town.

Discover the timeline of the Chapel

The Chapel over the centuries - click on the text above each image to find out interesting facts about the Chapel over the centuries

16th century	17th century	18th century	19th century

You can read about the Chapel’s interesting history in the following sections

Janet Rynd, founder of Magdalen Chapel
Who were the Hammermen?
The Chapel before the Reformation
The significance of Magdalen Chapel at the Reformation
The Chapel and Covenanting times
The Chapel after the Revolution
1857 to the present

Janet Rynd, founder of Magdalen Chapel

The Chapel was built between 1541 and 1544 by Janet Rynd. She was the wealthy widow of Mitchell Macquhane (Michael MacQueen), an Edinburgh merchant who died in 1537. Janet provided a significant sum (£2000) over and above money from her late husband (£700) to erect a new chapel for the Incorporation of Hammermen, a trade guild which came into being in the 15th century.

The Foundation Charter of 1547 says:
‘When the said Michael was greatly troubled with an heavy Disease, and oppressed with Age, yet mindful of Eternal Life, he esteemed it ane good Way to obtain Eternal Life, to erect some Christian Work, for ever to remain and endure’.

Michael MacQueen’s purpose in this foundation is interesting in light of the subject history of the Chapel. One of the reasons for the existence of the Scottish Reformation Society is to warn people against the false Roman Catholic teaching of Salvation by Works.

Who were the Hammermen?

The Incorporation of Hammermen was the trade guild for all craftsmen who used hammers to work on metal – but excluding goldsmiths and silversmiths, who left the Hammermen to form their own guild at the end of the 15^th century.

Around twenty different crafts were members of the hammermen’s incorporation, including blacksmiths, farriers, saddlers, armourers, knife and sword manufacturers, and locksmiths, as well as men who wrought in iron, copper, tin, and brass. Later, clockmakers and watchmakers were added to the incorporation, which exists to the present day.

The Chapel before the Reformation

Immediately before the Reformation the Chapel was used for academic lectures arranged by the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise.

The Royal Arms of Scotland and the Arms of the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, can be seen in one of the chapel windows. The glass roundels are the only pre-Reformation stained glass in Scotland which remains intact.

The significance of Magdalen Chapel at the Reformation

The Chapel was possibly used for the first General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in December 1560. It was certainly used for the Assembly of April 1578 at which Andrew Melville was Moderator and at which the Second Book of Discipline was discussed.

Following the Reformation in 1560, John Knox’s colleague, John Craig, preached in the Chapel several times. He had been abroad for many years and therefore preached in Latin as he had lost fluency in his native tongue.

Craig was educated at St Andrews. He taught in England in the family of Lord Dacre, then entered the order of Dominican Friars at Bologna. His role gave him access to read the papally-censored works of John Calvin, and reading these led to his conversion. The Inquisition condemned him for his views and sentenced to be burned for heresy. However, he escaped from jail at Rome and returned, via Vienna, to Edinburgh. He was appointed minister of the Canongate that year. In 1562 he became a colleague of John Knox in St Giles, where he laboured for nine years.

The Chapel and Covenanting times

The Chapel was used for conventicles on a number of occasions – in 1674, 1676 and 1679.

The bodies of several of Covenanting martyrs were taken to the Chapel after execution in the nearby Grassmarket – the Marquis of Argyle (1661), Hew Mackail (1666) and, John Dick (1684). There they were dressed in their grave-clothes. The table on which the bodies were placed is still to be seen in the Chapel, as is a sword said to have belonged to the Covenanter, Captain John Paton.

During the times of persecution, the heads and hands of martyred Covenanters were exhibited on the ports of Edinburgh by their executioners. Following the Glorious Revolution of 1689, these grisly remains were gathered together at the Chapel prior to interment in Greyfriars Churchyard in 1689.

The Chapel after the Revolution

After the Revolution, the Chapel was used as a place of worship by Episcopalians, and in the eighteenth century a Baptist congregation met there for a number of years.

Part of the Chapel, or a building adjoining, was used as a printing press in the mid-eighteenth century.

The Hammermen continued to own the Chapel, and it also served as their Convening Hall. By their agreement, the Convenery of Trades also met in the Chapel from 1596 until 1857.

1857 to the present day

The Hammermen sold the Chapel to the newly-formed Protestant Institute for Scotland in 1857. The plan was to use it as a base for outreach among Roman Catholics in the Cowgate.

In 1992/93 a major restoration programme was undertaken and the Chapel became the headquarters of the Scottish Reformation Society.