Building Glasgow Cathedral
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 3:29 pm
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
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