Wednesday 10 March 2010

Churches (working and converted, & other places of worship)

Glasgow has some wonderful churches and ex-churches, and also some wonderful non-Christian religious buildings. In order to attain some kind of perhaps foolish consistency, the section is arranged according to areas within the rest of the Album (in bold), and we begin with. . .

Anderston: church is now the Henry Wood Hall. . .
. . .and reflected in the Gaelic school




The Sikh temple just down the road from the Gaelic school ( see Glasgow's Sikhs)



Anniesland Reformed Baptist Church. OK, not the most beautiful church building in the world, not even the prettiest in Anniesland, but Glasgow has quite a few of such churches serving devoted evangelical congregations
More orthodox Anniesland churches
Temple Anniesland Parish Church. There was a Templar church in the area

Bellahouston/Ibrox This is the Glasgow Climbing Centre; used to be Ibrox Church
The splendid 1808 St Georges-Tron church in Buchanan St. Very much a working church. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George's-Tron_Church
The beautiful interior


Heavens above: expect delays






Calton: The 'parish church of the Barras', St Alphonsus RC church, built in 1905. It has an interesting neighbour across the road (see the Calton entry).


The Church of Scotland parish church of St Luke's and St Andrew's in Calton. Built 1836-37. It has an interesting legal history. It became a Free Church congregation for a while in the 1840s but was reclaimed by the Church of Scotland in 1849, following a House of Lords ruling that property rights lay with the Church of Scotland

Clydeside Roman Catholic Cathedral.


Garnethill The Synagogue, one of Glasgow's least-known great buildings
I haven't got a decent pic of the Gorbals parish Church - here is their signboard for now. The website ishttp://gorbalschurch.org.uk
Gorbals: the Glasgow Central Mosque, one of the biggest mosques in Europe. See
www.centralmosque.co.uk



Govan: the 'new' Church of Scotland building (just beside the subway station)

Side entrance

The back

The 'old' Govan church

This is the oldest place of worship in Glasgow. See
www.govanold.org.uk

Inside the church are 31 monuments from the 9th-10th centuries.

Govanhill: Our Lady of Consolation RC Church, a building that looks like it's been assembled from leftover WWII gun emplacements. See
http://oloc.blogspot.com/


Damp. The hanging baskets are a valiant attempt at adding charm, but surely that slit below was designed for a heavy machine gun






Victoria Evangelical Church

Hillhead: the grand Observatory Rd kirk

The fine Victorian Hillhead baptist church: see
www.hillheadbaptistchurch.co.uk


Kelvinbridge: Lansdowne Parish Church




St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Kelvinbridge (well, just about)
Lansdowne and St Mary's from Kelvinbridge
Sunshine on the Otago St Sikh temple (in building on left). Otago St, Kelvinbridge (see Glasgow's Sikhs)


Maryhill North Kelvinside parish Church


The Merchant City area has some marvellous buildings and St Andrew's in the Square (which is actually within the Calton district) is among the loveliest neoclassical buildings in Europe. It was the first church built in Glasgow since the Reformation, and Bonnie Prince Charlie's retreating Jacobite army sheltered here briefly while it was being built (completed 1754). See
www.standrewsinthesquare.com



This picture of the interior was taken at the launch in 2009 of the historian Stephen Mullen's book It Wisnae Us, a revealing and timely work on how Glasgow profited from the tobacco plantations in the West Indies -,plantations owned and run by Scots - and dependent upon slave labour. As Stephen explained at the launch, it was slavery that paid for churches such as this.
Merchant City: the 1824 Ramshorn Kirk. I was a member of the Boy's Brigade here in 1963, and it was while crossing the road above that I was told Kennedy had been shot. I went home depressed, passing a shopkeeper out in the street gleefully shouting 'I knew a pape wouldn't last long!'.



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Cathcart Rd, Mount Florida. Not all churches take the expected form: see
www.churchofscotland.org.uk/churchwithoutwalls
Park: the elegant Kelvingrove Park church, built 1872, now luxury flats






Park: the Hindu temple beside Kelvingrove Park




Park Church on the left, Glasgow College of the United Free Church on the right



Built 1856-58, only the tower remains of the original building; the church itself came down in 1968, 100 years after its construction








Partick Baptist Church, Crow Rd

Partick Free Church, Crow Rd
Partick Church of Scotland, Dumbarton rd

Townhead: the RC church in Parsons St  - see also
http://glasgowalbum.blogspot.com/2010/03/charles-rennie-mackintosh.html


Woodlands Methodist Church

Woodlands Free Presbyterian church








Woodside: the fine Belmont St Church of Scotland








Yorkhill The splendid Ahmadi mosque

2 comments:

  1. It is interesting to see the amazing Church buildings. Yet, it's sad to see how non-Christian religions are given shelter abroad, whereas, 'Christian freedom of speech' and building new Churches is strongly opposed in Muslim countries. A pretty sad dilemma.

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  2. Never realised so many churches in & around Glasgow. Wonder what the # is now 4 active & not converted churches. Terible the remark of the shopkeeper about President Kennedy, as he was 1 of the good guys, as far as being a president 4 the people & not kissing ass of the corps elite. That shopkeeper was obv, a dumb SOB.

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