Charlotte Baptist Chapel, Edinburgh

Charlotte Baptist Chapel stands on Rose Street and it is a lovely church to visit to or take part in one of the services because the sermons are lively and congregation friendly.

The church is independent and not part of the Baptist Union of Scotland. It was founded in the Pleasance area in 1808 by Christopher Anderson. Christopher was a junior clerk in an insurance company, but he wanted to be a missionary. He joined the Baptist Missionary Society and trained in England for missionary work in India.

He was unable to go abroad due to ill-health, so he returned to Scotland and gathered a small congregation in a tiny chapel, which soon proved to be too small. He launched a fund-raising program and bought the Charlotte Chapel which had been put on the market in 1816 by the Scottish Episcopal Church.

The chapel is a four storey Georgian building with a large basement area, which today is used as a crèche. The first floor houses a meeting room where after-service coffee, fruit juice and cakes are served. The main worship area is on the second floor, with galleries on the third floor. Most of the ceiling of the second floor has been removed so that the galleries overlook the main hall. Another meeting room is on the 4th floor and is used for youth activities.