Magdalen Chapel, built in 1541 in the Cowgate, Edinburgh, Scotland. This lovely little church, like so many of the oldest places of worship in Scotland, saw much drama over the centuries, involved as it was as the Catholic and Protestant battle to retain and to win over the hearts and consciences of the people. Covenanters executed nearby in the Grassmarket in the 1680’s were brought here and their bodies prepared for burial. The Chapel now belongs to the Scottish Reformation Society.

Magdalen Chapel historical plaques, Cowgate, Edinburgh, Scotland

View upon entering the Magdalen Chapel. The four stained glass roundels to the right are, according to Edinburgh.org’s 101 Objects project, ‘the only pre-Reformation stained glass of any importance surviving in-situ in Scotland.’ They ‘depict the coats of arms of Mary of Guise (mother to Mary Queen of Scots), the Scots Lion Rampant, and those of Michael MacQahane and his wife Janet Rynd.’

Interior view of the Magdalen Chapel, facing the choir (west) and the 1708 Deacon’s Chair

Interior view of the Magdalen Chapel, facing east. To the left, against which the facsimile of the Covenant of Scotland is leaning, is the small table on which the bodies of executed Covenanters were laid to prepare them for burial

Facsimile of the National Covenant of Scotland, signed in nearby Grayfriar’s Kirkyard in 1638

Mementos, memorials, and more on a wall of the Magdalen Chapel

Fragment of the original painted oak ceiling of the Magdalen Chapel

Painted panel with the insignia of the City of Edinburgh and other symbolic images in Edinburgh’s Magdalen Chapel