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St Nicholas Church, Dalkeith
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The site of St Nicholas Buccleuch Parish Church has
been a place of worship since the 14th century, with parts of the
current building dating to the 15th century.
The Collegiate
Church of St Nicholas Buccleuch, founded by Sir James Douglas in 1406
and completed in 1420 on the site of a former chapel, stands on High
Street. It is now known as the St Nicholas Buccleuch Parish Church.
Some parts of the building were allowed to fall into decay following
the Reformation and eventually the roof collapsed, and although some
restoration work has been carried out the old section of the church is
still unroofed.
The chancel was abandoned in 1590, walled off
from the rest of the church, and is now ruinous.
Sir James Douglas, 1st
Earl of Morton, and his wife Princess Joanna, daughter of James I, are
buried in the choir and have stone effigies, dating from the early 16th
century.
The nave and transepts date from 1854, when the inside
of the church was greatly altered.
The Alms Collection House,
adjacent to the main gate, is thought to be the only building of its
kind: built specifically for the purpose of collecting alms.
St
Nicholas Buccleuch Church remains one of the two Church of Scotland
parish churches in Dalkeith, the other being St John's and King's Park
Church. The Episcopal Church, St Mary's is on High Street, at the
entrance to Dalkeith Country Park. St David's Church, on Eskbank Road,
is the only Roman Catholic church in the town, it is a category A listed
building and was built in 1854.
In 2005,
John Charles Sholto Douglas,
21st Earl of Morton unveiled the
newly-repaired Morton Monument at St Nicholas Buccleuch Church, Dalkeith. The
16th century figures had been carefully restored and looked magnificent. Morton
said at the ceremony: “I think this has been a great achievement for all the
people concerned in putting this together. It is a great achievement for the
people of Dalkeith.”
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