Warehouse, 24 Broughton Street, Edinburgh

About

St Oran's Church was a Gaelic-speaking congregation of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh. Originating in the early 18th-century, the congregation continued until 1948, latterly meeting at Broughton Street. Gaelic public worship in Edinburgh began in the early 18th century and culminated with the opening of the first Gaelic Chapel at Castle Wynd near the Grassmarket in 1769.

This was the first Gaelic-speaking congregation in the Scottish Lowlands. A second, larger chapel opened at Horse Wynd in 1813 and the two congregations united in 1815, following which the Castle Wynd building was sold. In 1835, the chapel was raised to the status of a parish quoad sacra.

The Disruption of 1843 saw all the church's office holders and almost all of its congregation depart the established church to join the Free Church, creating another Gaelic-speaking congregation in Edinburgh: the Gaelic Free Church. Civic improvements in the Old Town forced the congregation to vacate Horse Wynd in 1870. It settled in the former Catholic Apostolic Church on Broughton Street in 1875.

In 1900, the congregation adopted the name "St Oran's". The former Gaelic Free Church – by then known as "St Columba's" – had rejoined...