St. Giles Cathedral, High Street, Edinburgh. Also known as the High Kirk of Edinburgh, it contains the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle, the chivalric order of Scotland, headed by the Queen. St. Giles was founded in the 1120s by the royal family of Scotland. Most of the current church was built after a fire in 1385. After the Reformation, the interior was divided into many rooms, and at various times over 300 years parts of the building were used for a police station, a fire station, a coal storage, a prison for ladies of ill repute, and a storage place for the Scottish guillotine. By 1829 the building was in very poor condition, which prompted a series of restorations during the 19th century. © 2004 Lawrence I. Charters |