About Our Parish

The church is situated at Bingham Ave, Edinburgh EH15 3HY, Scotland and serves Bingham and Magdalene areas.

The Magdalene part is situated on the east side of Duddingston Park South. The No. 4 bus, from the city centre stops at the church door and is a 20 minute service.

The 49 and 21 buses from the city centre pass the bottom of Mountcastle Drive South on Duddingston Park South - a two minute walk to the church

St Mary Magdalene´s Parish is situated approximately one mile from Portobello on the east side of Edinburgh. It was established fifty-three years ago when new houses were built in the area. It was in 1948 that the Local Council built a housing scheme in the area known as Bingham and then continued eastwards across Niddrie Road (presently called Duddingston Park South) to build another housing scheme called the Magdalene scheme. This scheme was named after the burn which in turn derived its name from a medieval chapel of St. Magdalen which stood 200 yards east of the mouth of the burn.

This burn was variously known as Magdalen or Maidland Water. The early spellings, Maidland(s) in 1448, Medlen in 1661 or Maitland all reflect the medieval pronunciation maudlin, and the third of them may have been influenced by (or confused with) the name of the Maitlands of Thirlestane, who owned nearby Brunstane from 1597 to 1696. The Magdalene Brig is noted in the Town Council Minutes 1557 as decayed to the point of falling down. The ground west of the brig is notable as one of the oldest inhabited sites in Edinburgh since a cemetery of the Food Vessel folk had been found here in 1881. This area was also the site of salt pans belonging to Kelso Abbey in the middle ages, and of a variety of manufactures in later centuries. The housing scheme built on Easter Duddingston ground a mile upstream from the old settlement was named in 1956 as Magdalene Avenue, Drive, Gardens, Medway and Place, and in 1975 Magdalene Court was added to the group.

Both the Bingham and the Magdalene schemes fell within the parish of St. John the Evangelist,Portobello and remained so until 1961. In September of that year it was announced from the pulpit of St John's that a new parish was to be formed from the part of the parish lying south of the Milton Road and north of the freight railway line on the northern side of St. Teresa's Craigmillar. The new parish would embrace both housing schemes and a considerable number of bungalows built before the war. This new parish had no name, no church, no presbytery but it did have a priest Rev. Father Lawrence A. Glancey, Ph.L, who was to reside in St. John's until a house could be found. Until further notice parishioners would still attend St. John´s.

Parish Priests

Father Jock Dalrymple

In September 2013 it was announced that Fr Jock Dalrymple was to be our new (shared) priest and would take up his new charge in December. Father Tabone kindly agreed to act as PP for the two parishes until Father Jock was able to take over. In December of that year we warmly welcomed Fr Jock Dalrymple as our priest. Many things, of necessity, had to change as one priest now served two parishes. Mass times on Sunday and the main services for Easter and Christmas - were just a few obvious changes which had to be made.

There were other, less obvious, changes. How were finances divided?. How much did St Mary Magdalene's contribute to the overall cost of the parishes? Other smaller changes too took place and they are too numerous to list here but Father Jock is a caring, hardworking person trying to care for two parishes and, as our parishes are so different from one another this is no easy task.

Now two and a half years later we are settled in a routine. It has not always been easy for any of us. Sharing a priest is different from having one full time. We, in St Mary Magdalene's worry that Father Jock has too much to do. He sometimes looks very tired. Perhaps, as time goes by he will feel able to delegate more and so lighten his load. In the meantime we are blessed with having a priest and a parish.

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