The Cathedral and Necropolis

A long day today that began in Glasgow, Scotland and ended in London, England. 

We started the day with a visit to Glasgow Cathedral. It was built in the 12th century and is the only Scottish cathedral to survive the Reformation intact.  The cathedral lost its stained glass windows, but was not greatly altered otherwise.

The cathedral is also called the High Kirk of Glasgow or St Kentigern's or St Mungo's Cathedral. St Mungo is the patron saint and founder of Glasgow.  The photo above shows his tomb and the lovely needlework which adorns it.

In fact the cathedral was full of lovely needlework - the tomb, alter, kneelers and chair cushions.

It was also full to the brim with the four emblems of St Mungo's miracles: the bird, the tree, the fish, and the bell. 

While most the stained glass windows are Victorian, so are even more recent.  This lovely blue window was commissioned for the Millenium.

The totally nude Adam and Eve stained glass window in the middle were quite the talk of the church!

I'm not very good with Bible stories, but I did recognize the Ark and dove. 

Unlike some larger cathedrals, St. Mungo's has a 'clean' feel inside.  It is not stuffed to the gills with memorials and statues.

The chair on the bottom row is the one Queen Elizabeth II uses when she is in Glasgow and visits the cathedral.

The Glasgow Necropolis is a 36 acre cemetery that sits high on a hill right next to the cathedral. The tallest monument (on the right of photo) is that of the fiery Reformation minister, John Knox. He and Mary Queen of Scots 'had words' as he did not think women were fit to rule (plus she was an untrustworthy Catholic to boot).

The Necropolis opened in 1833 and has 50,000 'residents'.  While most do not have a marker, the wealthy merchants of Glasgow had an unspoken competition to have the largest and most ornate memorial possible.

You can see some of their finer efforts here.

Obelisks and other classical bits and bots were very popular.

The urn motif, however, was by far the most popular.

The cathedral and Necropolis are in the very oldest part of Glasgow.  This is also where my Burnet and Stewart relatives lived - just down the hill on Sydney Street, Duke Street, and Parkhouse Lane.  While most do not have a memorial of any sort, this one branch of the Stewart family does!

After walking around a very small part of the Necropolis, we returned to Glasgow Central and caught a train to Edinburgh.  From Edinburgh we 'trained' south to London and arrived about 8:00pm.  It took us over an hour to get 'home' to our apartment because of weekend Underground disruptions on the Northern line.  I was hot, and sticky and grumpy as we stood in front of our apartment door searching for the key which had come off of the fob during our Scottish Expedition!  Before I could have a total meltdown, we found it.  A shower, a bowl of soup and I was if not a new person, certainly a happier and more comfortable one!