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Building Glasgow Cathedral

PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 3:29 pm
by jock78
Several aspects of the current cathedral I find very interesting and worthy of discussion.

Firstly, in Melrose Abbey is an inscription which states that a mason from Paris ( John Morrow) built both that building and the high church of Glasgow, St Andrews and Paisley. Obviously he could not possibly have done so in person but may well have supervised some of the work as a master mason. The date of the inscription, however does not seem to accord with that of the Cathedral so may relate to later work?
Another aspect is where was the stone quarried to build it?
Clearly haulage of large stone required considerable effort so it would have been quarried as close as possible to the site. I have noted elsewhere that a sandstone quarry face is present on the necropolis side of Wishart Street which is just a few hundred yards away- is it possible that this was where the stone came from?
I know that there is considerable variation in the typical blonde stone used throughout Glasgow so it should be possible for experts to relate the building to the quarry it came from.

John

Re: Building Glasgow Cathedral

PostPosted: Fri Aug 14, 2015 3:47 pm
by jock78
Hi all,
thought i would add to this myself as this should be an interesting aspect of Old Glasgow
when the cathedral was built, we did not have the necessary expertise not only in building but in conceiving and carrying out such a structure which must have extended over 50 years or so.
It makes sense that such 'journeymen' masons could have came over with the Normans and traveled throughout Britain to wherever they were needed irrespective of political boundaries.
I would like to explore where the stone came from- obviously it would be from the nearest quarry with suitable stone.

I attach a plan which shows a sandstone quarry at the necropolis and just to the east of the Cathedral ( marked as GGS14 b on it- could this be the remains of the excavation?

I have also found a plan as attached showing three quarries in the Cowcaddens, still in use in the early 18C which, however are too far away. Also there are references to a quarry on 'Ramshorne Lands', Possil and Provanside; Not to mention the well known site of Queen Street Station
sandstone and basalt.docx



John