About
The Trinity Apse was originally part of Trinity College Church, founded around 1460 and situated near the present Waverley Station. After the Church’s demolition to make way for the railway, the Apse was rebuilt on its current site to form part of a Victorian church, which has since been demolished.
Trinity College Church was founded by Queen Mary of Gueldres, consort of King James II of Scotland. It was possibly built as a memorial to the King, who died in 1460. Following the Reformation, the Town Council of Edinburgh became governors and custodians of the church.
On 2 March 1638, the National Covenant was first read to the people (as opposed to just the nobility) at Trinity College Chapel, an important event in the political and religious life of Scotland.
In the early 1840s, the first railways arrived in Edinburgh, and Trinity College Church stood in the way of the North British Railway Company’s development. In 1845, the Company acquired the area on which the church was built. The church was carefully demolished, and there followed a period of debate about where to re-build it.
In 1872, work began on the current site of Trinity Apse. When it was discovered that many of the original stones from the church were missing or damaged, it was decided to re-build only the apse, on the south end of a new church. The new Trinity College Church opened in October 1877, and was demolished in 1960, leaving the apse. The apse was used as a newspaper reading room and a museum store before the opening of the Brass Rubbing Centre in 1988.