Glasgow Cathedral

Today, we began our official tour with our group and guide. We had a few highlights of the day and one was a visit to Glasgow Cathedral.

Glasgow Cathedral

The cathedral is the only medieval cathedral to have survived the Reformation not unroofed and built in the late 12th century. Technically, it is not a cathedral and has retained the honor ceremoniously as it has not had a bishop residing since 1690 and is currently Episcopalian in the denomination of the Church of Scotland. We learned that the dark color that this type of stone takes on over time is due to the fact that large amounts of coal were being burned over the centuries to heat dwellings. The black suite from the coal has darkened that stone.

 

It is allegedly built on the site of church of patron saint and founder of Glasgow, Saint Mungo, who had been an apostle of the British Kingdom of Strathclyde. This kingdom was one of the early kingdoms post Roman occupation and absorbed into Scotland around A.D. 1100.

We walked down into the lower rooms where many VIPs are interred including the remains of Saint Mungo.

The cathedral was a filming location used for some hospital scenes on the television series Outlander (STARZ) which is a fictional story set in Scotland simultaneously in the mid 1700s (Jacobin uprising) and modern mid 20th century.