From St Moluag to the present day

Bishop John Skinner

Bishop Samuel Seabury

        The congregation of St Andrew’s can look to its roots in the ancient Christian church founded in Scotland by missionaries from Ireland.  The Icon of St Moluag kept in the Sacrament House in the north wall beside the Cathedra is a reminder of who the people of St Andrew are.  The congregation used a number of meeting houses until Bishop John Skinner built his house in the Long Acre in 1776, and the upper room was used as a chapel.  On 14 November 1784, in Longacre, not far from the present Cathedral, Samuel Seabury of Connecticut was consecrated a Bishop for America, the first Bishop of what we now call the Anglican Communion. 
​        The present building on King Street was opened in 1817. Designed by the celebrated Scottish architect Archibald Simpson, originally the nave was surrounded by galleries with an apse and altar at at the east end. In 1880 the choir and chancel were added to the design of G E Street, with the Porch added in 1911. Saint Andrew’s became the Cathedral Church of the Diocese in 1914.
        In the 1920s plans were drawn up for a new Cathedral to be built with funds from America, but the Wall Street Crash intervened. Instead, the existing Cathedral was extended and beautified. It has served as both a parish church and a Cathedral ever since.

Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church assembled for the consecration of Rt Revd Anne Dyer, 1st March, 2018