St. Anthony's Chapel is situated on a craggy outcrop of rock between Whinny Hill and Haggis Knowe (also known as Fairies' Knowe and the Cockleshell), to the South-west of St. Margaret's Loch in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, just off Queen's Drive.
St. Anthony's Chapel
It was also the site of a "hermitage", a holy well dedicated to the saint, and a small "cave" known as St. Anthony's Cave.
St. Anthony's Chapel and "Hermitage"
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St. Anthony's Chapel dates primarily from the early fifteenth century, although the church is now ruined, with only the Northern and Western walls remaining.
St. Anthony's Chapel, Looking North
The chapel is built on a small rectangular plan, rather than the cruciform plan more common from the Reformation onwards, and this perhaps suggests the possibility of an even earlier structure on the site. However, the structure rises to three storeys, which is clearly uncharacteristic of earlier churches.
St. Anthony's Chapel, Looking West
Presumably, this arrangement was a result of the highly limited amount of space available on the site, which is somewhat precipitous on a craggy outcrop overlooking St. Margaret's Loch. The limited space was utilised very efficiently, however, and several unlined graves were found in the thin strip of ground below the Northern wall.
The Northern Wall
Traditionally, it is said that the chapel was founded to guard the nearby holy well, also dedicated to the saint, and that an anchorite was responsible for protecting the well, tending the altar, and lighting a lamp in the chapel which could be seen from the Firth of Forth to help guide seafarers.
The small structure adjacent to the chapel and known as the "Hermitage" was probably not, in fact a hermitage, but a storehouse of some kind.
"The Hermitage"
It is partially built into the side of the natural rock, and little more than its Eastern wall remains.
The well dedicated to St. Anthony lies to the South-west of the chapel, and was traditionally used as a healing well.
St. Anthony's Well
This is one of a series of wells in the area around Arthur's Seat, including the still functioning St. Margaret's Well, and the now defunct St. David's Well, both to the East of St. Anthony's, and the Wells o' Wearie on the South-west slopes of the Seat.
St. Anthony's Well
Despite the well being dedicated to a Christian saint, this well was traditionally visited, up until modern times, on the ancient pagan festival of Beltane, being used by its pilgrims to wash their faces for purposes of beautification.
St. Anthony's Well
Indeed, this ritual is celebrated in a poem by the eighteenth-century Edinburgh poet and songwriter, Robert Fergusson:
On May-Day, in a fairy ring,
We've seen them round St. Anton's spring,
Frae grass the caller dew-drops wring
To weet their een,
And water clear as crystal spring,
To synd them clean.
This tradition may indicate that the well was venerated as a holy place from pre-Christian times onwards.
Between the chapel and the holy well, there is a very small natural "cave", known as St. Anthony's Cave, although far too small for the saint (or anyone else!) to have ever inhabited it. To the right of the cave are the remains of an old wall, presumably indicating that the site was venerated as associated with the saint for some time.
cave pictures to follow...