St Triduana and the origins of South Leith Parish Church

In around 700 St. Rule (St Regulas) came to Scotland from the eastern Mediterranean accompanied by St Triduana. St Regulas went on to found what was later to become the town of St Andrews and it was from here that St Triduana left St Regulas and went to Angus.
This area was ruled over by a chieftain called Nectan who was attracted to her. However, St Triduana was only interested in service to God and on being asked what attracted him to her, he replied “the transcendental beauty of your eyes”. Her response was to gauge out her eyes and present them to him on a thorn !

Later, St. Triduana was buried at Restalrig at which a well sprung up and it became a medieval pilgrimage site. This led to the founding of Restalrig Church which became the Parish church for Leith up to 1560, at which point it was demolished on the orders of the General Assembly and South Leith Church became the de facto parish church for Leith (confirmed by act of parliament in 1609).