[21][22] The accession of William of Orange led to the abolition of episcopacy in the Church of Scotland and the right to nominate ministers of St Cuthbert's passed to the Crown.

Known as "Dainty Davie" for the delicacy of his manners, Williamson was a leading figure in church and state, serving as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1702.

In May 1764, John Wesley visited St Cuthbert's for communion; in his journal, he unfavourably compared the rites to those of the Church of England.

[22] By the middle of the 18th century, the Church of St Cuthbert was nearing ruin: in 1745, the roof of the Little Kirk was destroyed and in 1772, the collapse of some seating occasioned the condemnation of the building.

In the late Northumbrian period, St Cuthbert's may have served as the minster for an area stretching from the environs of Edinburgh to the River Almond in the west and the Pentland Hills in the south.

[3] By the time of the Scottish Reformation, St Cuthbert's parish contained around 2,000 inhabitants and covered a large area surrounding the burghs of Edinburgh and the Canongate: it bounded Newhaven and Cramond in the north; Corstorphine in the west, Colinton and Liberton in the south; and Duddingston and Restalrig in the east.

[50] The use of begging badges continued, with an interruption between 1731 and 1739, until 1762, when the church opened a charity poorhouse on Riding School Lane, now on the site of the Caledonian Hotel.

The two-storeyed halls were completed in 1893 to designs of McCarthy and Watson and are in the Queen Anne style, displaying the influence of James Gibbs.

[56] James Gordon of Rothiemay's 1647 map of Edinburgh shows a long building with a pitched roof, a transept at the south, and a tower at the west.

[21] By the time of its demolition, St Cuthbert's was an amorphous collection of extensions; William Sime described an interior of "petty galleries stuck up one above another, to the very rafters, like so many pigeons' nests".

The lower stage of the lantern is pierced by a tall, open, round-headed arch in each face while angled buttresses with half-fluted double Ionic pilasters support each corner.

The central section is dominated by the semi-circular apse, which is covered by a leaded half-dome beneath the apex of the pointed east gable.

On the ground level, a channelled blind arch frames a large memorial sculpture of 1844 by Alexander Handyside Ritchie: this depicts David Dickson blessing children.

[10][9] The west gallery was shortened between 1989 and 1990, when Stewart Tod & Partners partitioned off the western end of the sanctuary to improve the church's facilities and disability accessibility.

[8] The chancel consists of a semi-circular apse; three bays divided by Doric pilasters terminate in round-headed arches that nestle into the vault of the half-domed ceiling.

[2] Peter MacGregor Chalmers remodelled the ground floor of the tower as a First World War memorial chapel, which opened in 1921.

At the centre of the north wall, a round-headed arch beneath an oculus leads to a simple apse covered in gilded mosaic tiles and pierced by a small central window.

[69] Writing four decades after the church's construction, Andrew Landale Drummond contrasted the opulence of the chancel to the "inadequacy" of the nave, concluding: " ... the showy Baroque decoration of St. Cuthbert's is alien both to good taste and the traditions of Presbyterianism.

[30] The authors of the Buildings of Scotland guide to Edinburgh praise Blanc's interior but state that exterior views "show an uneasy compromise, for snecked stonework and C15-16 Renaissance detail do not suit the austere kirk style, and the great bulk and divergent roof pitch are at odds with the Georgian steeple."

The frieze, installed in 1908, is divided across three bays; its design was adapted by Hippolyte Blanc from Leonardo's Last Supper and carved by Bridgeman of Lichfield.

[55] In the panels of the chancel ceiling, murals by Gerald Moira depict the Four Evangelists while the vault of the apse is decroated with a scene of Christ in Majesty by Robert Hope.

[55][53] After the gallery of the south transept was walled-off in 1990 to create the Nor' Loch Room, a decorative screen designed by students of Edinburgh College of Art was added to the new wall.

[10] In the vestibule and stairwells, memorials include a vesica panel in memory of the children of Francis Redfern with a relief of Christ blessing children by John Flaxman (1802); a Mannerist tablet to John Napier (1842); aedicules to Rocheid of Inverleith (1737) and Watson of Muirhouse (1774); a pair of wall sarcophagi on lion's feet by Wallace and Whyte commemorating Henry Moncreiff-Wellwood and William Paul (1841); and a stone marker from the grave of Robert Pont (1608).

[72] Windows by other makers show David going out to meet Goliath, by Tiffany Glass Company (after 1900), and, in the war memorial chapel, the Crucifixion and Cuthbert by Douglas Strachan (1922).

Later ministers who served as moderator of the General Assembly during their incumbency of St Cuthbert's are David Williamson in 1702; John Paul in 1847; James MacGregor in 1891; Norman Maclean in 1927; William White Anderson in 1951; and Robert Leonard Small in 1966.

[87] The 11 a.m. Sunday service is accompanied by the St Cuthbert's Choir, whose membership consists of volunteer members of the congregation and choral scholars.

[95] In 1701, ground was added to the west and north-west, concurrent with a refurbishment of the church, which is recorded as having been somewhat derelict since the period of the English Civil War.

In 1841, a railway tunnel to serve incoming trains to the new Waverley Station was built under a new southern section of the graveyard, which dated from only 1834, and many graves had to be moved as a result.

In 1863, the entire churchyard was closed under order of the newly appointed Medical Officer of Health, the graveyard being then considered "completely full".

[95] The churchyard is impressive, containing hundreds of monuments worthy of notice, including one to John Grant of Kilgraston (near Perth), and a three-bay Gothic mausoleum of the Gordons of Cluny, by David Bryce.