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Restoring Medieval Edinburgh in the Nineteenth CenturyArchitecture, Heritage and Scottish Identity

By R.J. Morris, Helen M. Morris and Barbara Morris

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Published 28 February 2027

About this book

Studies the remaking of three Edinburgh landmarks to understand the nineteenth-century evolution of Scottish identity

  • Discusses the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century hotly contested renovation and restoration of Edinburgh Castle, John Knox House and St. Giles Cathedral
  • Draws extensively on primary sources including nineteenth-century Court of Sessions Records, Church minutes, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland correspondence, Parliamentary Papers, census data as well as the Register of Sasines and court records, Poor Law survey books, Post Office Directories
  • Weaves through contemporaneous accounts of people and events with reflections from recent scholarship
  • Examines newspaper accounts and letter pages including from the evangelical Witness as well as the Scotsman to provide a vivid account of public opinion at the time
  • Text is interspersed with photos, maps and documents of the time to illustrate issues raised in the book; includes census and other data from the period to tell the story of elaborate power dynamics and struggles

In his final work, R. J. Morris explores the nineteenth-century restorations of Edinburgh’s most iconic landmarks: John Knox House, Edinburgh Castle and St Giles’ Cathedral. Far from simple technical repairs, these projects were affected by hotly contested battles over affordable housing projects, religion and the legacy of slavery. Participants quickly formed unlikely alliances, then just as rapidly threw their new allies aside. Fundraisers and plan makers called on all the weapons of civil society: the public meeting, the celebrity visitor, and the media; harnessing the 'power of place' to define national identity.

Drawing on a lifetime of scholarship and walks through Edinburgh’s streets, Morris delivers a deeply researched yet accessible narrative. He offers a fresh perspective on the complex meanings embedded into these building projects and the protagonists’ attempts to answer the question what it means to be Scottish, to be Edinburgh.

Table of contents

Foreword
Acknowledgements

Introduction: Re-imaging Scottish Identity through 19th-Century Architectural Restorations of John Knox House, Edinburgh Castle, and St Giles' Cathedral

Part I: John Knox House
Chapter 1 John Knox House facing division and degradation
Chapter 2 John Knox House saved for a city in crisis

Part II: Edinburgh Castle
Chapter 3 Edinburgh Castle: a monument to represent the nation
Chapter 4 Edinburgh Castle: Restoration and Evolving Stories

Part III: St Giles’ Cathedral
Chapter 5 Creating a presbyterian cathedral in Scotland
Chapter 6 St Giles’ Cathedral and Royalty

Conclusion: Architectural Heritage, Collective Memory, and National Identity in 19th-Century Edinburgh’s Built Environment

Bibliography

About the contributors

R.J. Morris

R.J. Morris was Professor Emeritus in Economic and Social History at Edinburgh University. He wrote widely on the middle classes, urban development and associational culture. His publications includes Men, Women and Property in England, 1780-1870; Scotland 1907, The Many Scotlands of Valentine and Sons, Photographers; Politics, Economy and Society; ‘Reading the riot commission: Belfast 1857', Irish Historical Studies, 2019; ‘New Spaces for Scotland, 1800 to 1900’, in Griffiths and Morton (eds), A History of Everyday Life in Scotland, 1800-1900; and ‘Urban Ulster’ in Kennedy and Ollerenshaw, Ulster since 1600.

Helen M. Morris

Helen M. Morris holds a DPhil (PhD) in International Relations from St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. She held a Marie Curie Research Fellowship at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels during which she published a number of book chapters and referred academic articles. She works as a Senior Speechwriter in the Canadian Government writing a range of materials including Ministerial keynote addresses, speeches for parliamentary debates, press conferences and public events.

Barbara Morris

Barbara Morris has a BA in Geography from Queen’s University, Belfast. She first worked in the Foreign Office and then as Investigator of Architectural History and Archaeology at the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments in Wales. An appointment to the Clarendon Press in Oxford was an early introduction to digital mapping. More recently, in a Data Library team in Edinburgh University, she researched and delivered Ordnance Survey maps and the Statistical Accounts of Scotland online to UK universities. She has also edited for publication many Economic and Social History articles and text books.