Travel – Glasgow

This is an excerpt from my book Travels through History : Ten Scottish Islands.

At the junction with Rottenrow, High Street became Castle Street. The first building of interest I came to was the Barony Hall, a deconsecrated church building near the city’s oldest surviving house, Provand’s Lordship. Built in the red sandstone Victorian neo-Gothic style, the hall houses the University of Strathclyde’s graduation ceremonies. Cathedral Square is on the opposite side of the road, with its equestrian statue of King William III & II. William III is called William II in Scotland because Scotland had already had a King William I. That earlier King William I was William the Lion, who reigned from 1165 to 1214. Therefore, when William of Orange became joint monarch of Scotland with his wife Mary II in 1689, he was designated William II in Scotland to differentiate him from the previous King William. In Scotland, William the Conqueror (William I) and William Rufus (William II) don’t count as when they were kings of England, the crowns of Scotland and England were not united.

On the south-eastern corner of Cathedral Square is the Glasgow Evangelical Church. The Church is a Category ‘A’ Listed Building and of historical importance to the City. John Honeyman built this highly ornate, Italianate style church between 1878-80. In the gardens opposite the church is a shiny mirrored ball that is a striking Infant Memorial. 

The St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art is next door. It was constructed in 1989 on the site of a medieval castle-complex, the former residence of the bishops of Glasgow. The museum building mimics the Scottish Baronial style of the former bishop’s residence. The museum opened in 1993 and houses exhibits relating to all the world’s major religions, including a Zen garden. 

Opposite the museum is Church Lane, which leads towards the Bridge of Sighs landmark. This is the area of the Glasgow Necropolis. Rows of elaborate tombs are all around, as are superb views down over the cathedral. 

I retraced my steps. My next stop was Provand’s Lordship, a medieval historic house, built as part of St Nicholas’s Hospital by the Bishop of Glasgow in 1471. A western extension, designed by William Bryson, was completed in 1670.