![John Knox memorial at Glasgow Nekropolis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/John_Knox_memorial_at_Glasgow_Nekropolis.jpg)
Cathedral Square is a public square in the city of
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. Cathedral Square and precinct is situated adjacent to
Glasgow Cathedral
Glasgow Cathedral ( gd, Cathair-eaglais Ghlaschu) is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the oldest cathedral in mainland Scotland and the oldest building in Glasgow. The cathedral was the seat of the Archbishop ...
on High Street/Castle Street at John Knox Street. Nearby are many famous Glasgow Landmarks such as
Provand's Lordship
The Provand's Lordship of Glasgow, Scotland, is a medieval historic house museum located at the top of Castle Street within sight of the Glasgow Cathedral and Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and next to the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art.
...
,
Glasgow Royal Infirmary
The Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) is a large teaching hospital. With a capacity of around 1,000 beds, the hospital campus covers an area of around , and straddles the Townhead and Dennistoun districts on the north-eastern fringe of the city cen ...
,
Necropolis
A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead".
The term usually im ...
, the ceremonial
Barony Hall
Barony Hall, also known as Barony Church, is a red sandstone Victorian neo-Gothic-style building on Castle Street in the Townhead area of Glasgow, Scotland, near Glasgow Cathedral, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the city's oldest surviving house, ...
of
Strathclyde University
The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...
, and the
Glasgow Evangelical Church at the Square. It is one of six public squares and precincts in the city centre.
Prior to the 1870s the post-medieval clutter of congested dwellings and workshops, on the remaining debris of the long-gone Bishop's Castle, where Castle Street is today, hampered access to the Infirmary, with its small Infirmary Square, and Cathedral. The new City Improvement Trust, under architect and city superintendent John Carrick,
started to clear the hovels near Glasgow Cross and erect new tenements up the High Street and Castle Street. A new road was fully opened, John Knox Street, curving its way past the Necropolis entrances, covering over the Molendinar Burn, and down to
Duke Street, close to
Wellpark Brewery
Tennent Caledonian is a brewery based in Glasgow, Scotland. The Wellpark Brewery is situated in the city's East End, between the Townhead and Dennistoun districts along Duke Street.
It was founded in 1740 on the bank of the Molendinar Burn ...
at the Drygate. Cathedral Square Gardens opened in 1879, formed by John Carrick
and landscaped by Duncan McMillan. In 1890 a decorative fountain, the Steven Fountain, was placed in the centre, the same year as in
Glasgow Green
Glasgow Green is a park in the east end of Glasgow, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde. Established in the 15th century, it is the oldest park in the city. It connects to the south via the St Andrew's Suspension Bridge.
History
In ...
. As well as being a restful place the square has been used for political gatherings.
Buildings of the area
Prominent buildings of the area include:
*
Glasgow Evangelical Church, 1880, Category A listed building with its elegant Italian facade and handsome classical interiors designed by architect John Honeyman of
Honeyman and Keppie
Honeyman and Keppie was a major architectural firm based in Glasgow, created by John Honeyman and John Keppie in 1888 following the death of James Sellars in whose architectural practice Keppie had worked. Their most notable employee was Charles ...
, as Cathedral Square
United Presbyterian/Barony North Church
* Discharged Prisoners Aid Society (now Cathedral House Hotel), 1896, red sandstoned building designed by architects Campbell Douglas and Morison
*
Barony Hall
Barony Hall, also known as Barony Church, is a red sandstone Victorian neo-Gothic-style building on Castle Street in the Townhead area of Glasgow, Scotland, near Glasgow Cathedral, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the city's oldest surviving house, ...
, 1889, category A listed red sandstoned building designed by Sir
John James Burnet
Sir John James Burnet (31 May 1857 – 2 July 1938) was a Scotland, Scottish Edwardian architecture, Edwardian architect who was noted for a number of prominent buildings in Glasgow and London. He was the son of the architect John Burnet (arch ...
as the New Barony Church, with its interior loosely modelled on Gerona Cathedral.
*
Provand's Lordship
The Provand's Lordship of Glasgow, Scotland, is a medieval historic house museum located at the top of Castle Street within sight of the Glasgow Cathedral and Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and next to the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art.
...
, oldest dwellings in Glasgow, Category A listed.
*
Glasgow Royal Infirmary
The Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) is a large teaching hospital. With a capacity of around 1,000 beds, the hospital campus covers an area of around , and straddles the Townhead and Dennistoun districts on the north-eastern fringe of the city cen ...
reconstructed from 1914, architect James Miller, and onwards. On the site of the Robert Adam building of 1794
*
Glasgow Cathedral
Glasgow Cathedral ( gd, Cathair-eaglais Ghlaschu) is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the oldest cathedral in mainland Scotland and the oldest building in Glasgow. The cathedral was the seat of the Archbishop ...
, the oldest building in Glasgow, from the late 12c onwards. Category A listed.
*
Necropolis
A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead".
The term usually im ...
garden cemetery opened in 1833 on the Merchants' Park above the Cathedral.
*
St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art
The St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art is a museum of religion in Glasgow, Scotland. It has been described as the only public museum in the world devoted solely to this subject, although other notable museums of this kind are the State Mu ...
and Friends Visitor Centre, opened in 1993, designed by architect Ian Begg, sitting in the centre of the Victorian square.
Statues of the area
Statues and monuments abound including:
*
King William (joint monarch with his wife
Queen Mary) from 1688. Foundry of Can't & Lindsay, 1735. At Glasgow Cross until 1923.
* Rev Dr
Norman McLeod, minister of the Barony. Sculptor
John Mossman
John G. Mossman (London 1817–1890) was one of a number of English sculptors who dominated the production and teaching of sculpture in Glasgow for 50 years after his arrival with his father and brothers from his native London in 1828. His fa ...
, 1881.
*
David Livingstone
David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...
, physician, missionary, explorer. Sculptor John Mossman, 1879. At George Square until 1956.
* James Arthur, clothing manufacturer and philanthropist. Sculptor George Anderson Lawson, 1893.
*
James Lumsden, stationery manufacturer, Lord Provost, and Royal Infirmary treasurer. Sculptor John Mossman, 1862.
*
James White, chemicals manufacturer and philanthropist Sculptor Francis Leslie, 1890.
*
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
, monarch from 1837 to 1901. Sculptor Albert Hemstock Hodge, 1914.
*
John Knox
John Knox ( gd, Iain Cnocc) (born – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
Born in Giffordgat ...
, theologian, minister, reformer. Designer T Hamilton, carver Robert Forrest, 1825.
In the late 1890s the sprawling
Duke Street Prison
Duke Street Prison (also known as Bridewell or the Northern or North Prison) was one of eight prisons which served Glasgow and its surrounding area prior to the mid nineteenth century. An early example of the 'separate system', it was noted in ...
, to its south and downhill, planned to open a new entrance and building at the edge of the square which caused "indignation meetings" and a successful campaign to save the green space, and some verses to think better, including ... an extract... of
CATHEDRAL SQUARE. (With apologies to the Chartist poet Eliza Cook.)
We love it, and who shall dare
To chide us for loving Cathedral Square?
We’ve cherished it long as a sacred place,
We’ve shown it to strangers of every race.
'Tis bound by a thousand ties to our hearts,
And we add to its treasures in fits and starts.
Would you learn the spell?
St. Mungo dwelt there,
a sacred space Cathedral Square!
[Glasgow Evening Post 25 April 1889]
References
{{coord, 55.8628, -4.2361, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Squares in Glasgow
Parks and commons in Glasgow