Glasgow Cathedral (HS)

This great building is the only mediaeval cathedral on the Scottish mainland to have survived the Reformation of 1560 virtually complete. The awe-inspiring edifice is dedicated to St Kentigern, or Mungo, as he is more affectionately known. Mungo is believed to be the first bishop within the ancient British kingdom of Strathclyde, and was buried on the site in AD 612.The present cathedral was completed and probably roofed around 1300. The outbreak of the Wars of Independence with England seems to have interrupted the final stages of the work, for in 1306 Bishop Wishart was accused of making siege engines from the timbers supplied for the cathedral's roof.During the later Middle Ages the bishop, canons and vicars of the cathedral all had residences within its precinct. The most splendid of these was the bishop's castle. It stood just to the west of the cathedral and consisted of a great tower house surrounded by a high curtain wall, with an imposing towered gatehouse.After the Reformation the cathedral was partitioned into three parish kirks. Dividing walls were built, galleries installed and for two hundred years three separate congregations worshipped here. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, with two of the congregations having moved elsewhere, the cathedral was gradually restored to its original condition.Shop.