St Giles Cathedral, High Street, Edinburgh

St Giles Cathedral, located on the High Street in Edinburgh, dates from 1385 to 1410, possibly incorporating earlier elements, and has undergone significant later alterations and additions. These include an exterior re-facing in smooth ashlar by William Burn between 1829 and 1833, and the addition of the Thistle Chapel by Robert Lorimer in 1910. This cathedral is an outstanding example of Scottish ecclesiastical architecture, built on a monumental scale and featuring a prominent tower topped with a crown spire supported by eight flying buttresses. The structure has a rubble core surrounded by a Late-Gothic exterior, distinguished by pointed-arch windows with flowing tracery, cusped stone cresting, and crocketed pinnacles, as well as buttressed clasping corner angles throughout.

The west elevation presents a symmetrical five-part entrance with a large, deeply recessed doorway at the center, intricately carved and featuring a tympanum with a relief carving of St Giles and three gablets above. To the south flank is a vestry with a later ogee-headed door and window. The tower includes single Y-traceried openings with deep, chamfered splays and three closely spaced pointed lancets with cusped heads on each face. The eight flying buttresses rise from the corners and centers of the sides, supporting the pinnacled crown spire, which features eight-banded antae carrying a pointed finial and a metal weathervane. The Thistle Chapel, located at the northeast corner, is designed in a High-Gothic style, tall and narrow, with three bays and a three-sided apse. It has a heavy, sloping plinth with small lucarnes at regular intervals and deep, gableted buttresses that rise to parapet level. The central bay of the apse features a single lancet with a canopied figure of St Andrew breaking the parapet.