Description
Eaglais Ghàidhlig Chaluim Cille / St Columba Gaelic Church (1901–04) is a large parish church by William Tennant and Fred V Burke designed in the Decorated Gothic style with a wealth of ornate, finely tooled stonework. It occupies a square-plan site towards the west end of St Vincent Street in central Glasgow. It is constructed of red, rock-faced sandstone masonry with a 200ft spire and adjoining halls.
The church is cruciform in plan with paired transepts towards the north end. The tower at the southeast corner is buttressed with a gabled entrance at the base of the tower having a recessed doorway under a carved tympanum with Gaelic inscription, nook shafts and moulded reveals. At the second stage, a carved statue of St Columba is set into a canopied niche. Above this is a louvred belfry and a tall octagonal spire with clasping corner pinnacles. To the west of the tower a large nave window with geometric, Art Nouveau-influenced window tracery is set above three smaller windows. The side elevations of the church have simplified detail, all in rock-faced masonry, and there is a polygonal apse to the rear (north) with traceried windows, including a central Star of David motif.
The western part of the site incorporates two halls (seating 350 and 120 respectively), a session house, vestry and an officer's house. The halls are linked to the main body of the church by a polygonal porch/stair projection. The gabled front to larger (south) hall entrance has a three-doorway entrance with carved hood mouldings, tympana and panels above.
There is an adjoining church officer's house (337 West George Lane) at the rear, northwest corner of the site. This single-storey and basement house, also constructed of matching rock-faced masonry, has a stepped entrance oversailing the basement level. The linked components across the site all have a roof covering of grey slate.
The cathedral-like interior space is impressive and the outstanding decorative scheme is largely complete (2022) with tall, pointed-arch arcading, and a pointed-arch crossbeam roof structure supported by unusual, pierced wall-shaft pillars with floral capitals. The aisles have clerestory windows and there are timber galleries set into the transepts and at the south end of the nave, all with carved timber parapets. The chancel has a bespoke E.F. Walcker & Cie pipe organ (1904). The pipes are set within arched chambers on each side of the chancel arch. The pulpit, altar and galleries all have ornate carved timber detailing. The church has a seating capacity for around one thousand.
There are boundary walls to the south (street) front with ornately carved gate piers and railings in similar gothic style.
Tuairisgeul
'S e eaglais mhòr paraiste le Uilleam Tennant agus Fred V Burke a tha ann an Eaglais Ghàidhlig Chaluim Cille (1901–04). Tha i air a dealbh ann an stoidhle Gotach Sgeadaichte le beairteas de chlachaireachd mòr-sgeadaichte air obrachadh gu grinn. Tha an eaglais air làrach cheàrnagach faisg air ceann siar Sràid Naomh Vincent ann am meadhan Ghlaschu. Tha i air a togail de chlach-ghainmhich chreagach dhearg le stìopall 200 troigh agus tallaichean làmh rithe.
Bha eaglais na bu shine – Eaglais Chaluim Cille Shràid an Dòchais (1839) – air a togail dhan choimhearsnachd Ghaidhlig a thàinig ri chèile an dèidh an imrich mhòr a rinn daoine às a' Ghàidhealtachd agus na h-Eileanan gu ruige Glaschu anns a' chiad leth den naoidheamh linn deug. Chaidh an eaglais a leagail airson àite a dhèanamh airson leudachadh air Stèisean-rèile Meadhan Ghlaschu. Chaidh dìoladh bhon chompanaidh a chleachdadh airson eaglais ùr, Eaglais Ghàidhlig Chaluim Cille, a thogail aig 300 Sràid Naomh Vincent.
Historical development
An earlier church – the Hope Street Church of St Columba (1839) – was built for the Gaelic speaking community which had formed following the mass migration of people from the Highlands and Islands to Glasgow in the first half of the 19th century. This church was demolished in 1900 to make way for an extension to Glasgow Central Railway Station. Compensation from the railway company was used to construct the new Gaelic Church of St Columba at 300 St Vincent Street. The Highland News noted that the proposed new church would accommodate over one thousand people, with the cost of erection quoted as £15,000 (Highland News, 1901). The design competition was won by William Tenant and Fred V Burke of Glasgow, with other designs by Glasgow architects such as Andrew Balfour and David Barclay proving unsuccessful. The memorial stone was laid in 1902, and on completion in 1904 the cost of the building had risen to around £30,000 (British Architect, 1905). The size and lavish detailing of the building have led it to being colloquially known as the 'Highland Cathedral' or sometimes the 'Gaelic Cathedral'.
In 2011 the Gaelic Church on Gardner Street, Glasgow was dissolved, leaving Eaglais Ghàidhlig Chaluim Cille / St Columba's Gaelic Church the only church in Glasgow to continue to hold a Gaelic language service on Sunday mornings.
Structural issues were identified in 2017 and services in the church were suspended in 2020. The congregation moved temporarily to Blawarthill Church, Millbrix Avenue in 2021.
Statement of Special Interest
Eaglais Ghàidhlig Chaluim Cille / St Columba Gaelic Church meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:
- For its outstanding design and wealth of carved stonework detailing, both externally and internally.
- For its largely complete interior retaining much of its early 20th century character, including a bespoke pipe organ of national significance.
- As a prominent ecclesiastical building on one of the main streets through the centre of Glasgow.
- For its cultural and historic interest as a focal point for worship in the Gaelic language, built specifically to cater for the Gaelic speaking Highland community living in Glasgow.
Tha Eaglais Ghàidhlig Chaluim Cille a' coileanadh nan slatan-tomhais airson ailtireachd speisealta no ùidh eachdraidheil air na h-adhbharan a leanas:
- Airson a dealbhadh air leth agus am beairteas de chlachaireachd shnaighte, an dà chuid air an taobh a-staigh agus an taobh a-muigh.
- Airson taobh a-staigh a tha gu ìre mhòr slàn, a' cumail mòran de bhlas tràth an fhicheadamh linn, na mheasg òrgan pìoba a chaidh a thogail a dh'aon ghnothach aig a bheil cudromachd nàiseanta.
- Mar thogalach eaglaiseil air aon de na prìomh shràidean a tha a' dol tro mheadhan Ghlaschu.
Airson ùidh chultarail agus eachdraidheil mar fhòcas do dh' adhradh ann an Gàidhlig, air a togail a dh' aon ghnothach airson a' choimhearsnachd Ghàidhlig a bha a' fuireach ann an Glaschu a fhrithealadh.
Architectural interest
Design
Eaglais Ghàidhlig Chaluim Cille / St Columba Gaelic Church is the largest church outside of the Scottish Highlands built specifically to cater for a Scottish Gaelic-speaking congregation. Its size and amount of quality carved stone detailing were a direct result of additional compensation funds received from the Caledonian Railway Company. Details include the inscription Tigh Mo Chridhe, Tigh Mo Gràidh (House of My Heart, House of My Love) by the poet Duncan Livingstone above the main entrance. The tower stage incorporates a statue of St Columba set within a niche. These decorative details reflect the church's strong associations with Gaelic worship, adding to the special design interest.
The interconnected plan form of the various components makes effective use of the square-plan site, with the cruciform church to the east side, the adjoining halls to the west, and the officer's house to the rear (northwest) corner of the site. The church is described as cleverly composed of several well-differentiated parts, stepping up the hill from the west (Buildings of Scotland – Glasgow).
The church has a high-quality interior design and fixed interior decorative scheme to match the interest of the exterior. The bespoke, three-manual pipe organ was manufactured by the internationally renowned German organ company, E.F. Walcker and Cie. The organ is categorised as Grade I on the National Register of Pipe Organs, denoting exceptional significance. Other interior elements of note include the unusual, partly engaged wall-shaft columns supporting the roof structure (Buildings of Scotland – Glasgow) and the carved timber pulpit and communion table.
Glasgow architects William Tennant (1834–1915) and his former partner Robert Baldie were responsible for a small number of churches in Glasgow and Ayrshire during the 1880s. Tennant also designed the Young Men's Christian Association in Govan (1897, listed category B, LB33362). His short-lived partnership with Fred V Burke (1901 to 1903) ended before the completion of St Columba Gaelic Church on St Vincent Street. Won in open competition, this was their only major commission. The architects used the large budget to incorporate many ornate carved details, principally in the Decorated Gothic style. This revival style was widely used for church design in Glasgow and elsewhere during the 19th century but rarely to this level of detail. The floral capitals and patterned faience tiles that adorn the interior arcades and staircase reflect the influence of early Art Nouveau design trends in Glasgow during the first years of the 20th century. Both the exterior and interior design is notable for its degree of authenticity and completeness with relatively minor later alterations.
Setting
Eaglais Ghàidhlig Chaluim Cille / St Columba Gaelic Church is prominently located in the Blythswood area of Glasgow on St Vincent Street, one of the main arterial streets running east/west through the city centre. It is outside the boundary of the Glasgow Central conservation area.
Principal churches were constructed for every major denomination in central Glasgow during the 19th and early 20th century. The location of St Columba's near the heart of the city is relative to its importance as the main building for worship in the Gaelic medium in Glasgow throughout the 20th century and into the 21st. The 200ft spire of St Columba is a conspicuous feature from various vantage points across the city centre.
The immediate setting of the church has changed considerably during the 20th century, with the building now largely surrounded by glass-fronted commercial offices (2021). The ornate gothic church is visually distinctive and in marked contrast with the minimalistic steel and glass offices in a largely commercial part of the city centre.
St Vincent Street Free Church (1857) by Alexander 'Greek' Thomson is located within sight on the opposite side of the street. Listed at category A (LB33150), it is among the most architecturally distinguished churches in Scotland. While sharing some features typical of the building type, the two churches are very different stylistically, and together provide a visual counterpoint to the surrounding modern steel and glass offices in this part of the city.
Historic interest
Age and rarity
Churches are not an uncommon building type, with thousands of examples surviving across Scotland. Many have been altered to provide a change of use or to accommodate different styles of worship. Glasgow alone has four cathedrals and around 50 listed churches including a number of large and often highly decorated churches representing all the major denominations and architectural styles.
Parish churches of a similar size and architectural quality in Glasgow include the nearby Renfield St Stephens Parish Church (1852) on Bath Street (LB32970) with its 220ft spire, Queen's Park Govanhill Parish Church (LB32457) and Pollokshields Parish Church and Hall (1878) on Shields Road (LB33477). Crosshill Queen's Park Church (LB32451), with its notably delicate Franco-Gothic influenced stonework, changed from category B to A in 1989.
While St Columba is not a rare or early church building of its denomination within Glasgow, it is a notably large, complete and lavishly detailed later example of the Decorated Gothic style. This is primarily due to the high quality of detail and craftsmanship in its stone construction and interior features. Significantly, St Columba is distinguished under this heading as the largest and most ornate site of worship outside of the Scottish Highlands built specifically to cater for a Gaelic speaking congregation.
Social historical interest
The Gaelic language has been closely linked with the religious life of Scotland through the centuries (Meek 2006, p.363). The language was spoken by 210,677 people in Scotland at the time of the 1891 Census, mainly by communities in or migrating from the northwest Highland mainland and the Hebrides. In 1770 the first Gaelic Church in Glasgow was built to cater for the influx of Gaelic speakers, predominantly from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, who came to Glasgow in search of work as a result of the upheavals caused by the Industrial Revolution and the Highland clearances.
Gaelic came to be identified closely with the evangelical experience of many Highlanders after around 1800 (Meek, p.370) and services were held in various churches throughout the city over the years, catering for the increases in congregation sizes. An early example was the Church of Scotland Gaelic Chapel of Ease in Ingram Street Glasgow, operating from 1781 to 1836.
The Church of Scotland was mainly organised through the geographical parish system. St Columba is an exception as the parish has no physical boundaries but is defined instead by the Gaelic language and culture, so any individual requiring the services of the church may regard themselves as a parishioner of St. Columba.
From 2011 Eaglais Ghàidhlig Chaluim Cille / St Columba Gaelic Church has been the only church in Glasgow to continue to hold a Sunday service in Gaelic. The largest established Gaelic church congregations outside of Inverness and the Highlands and Islands are found in Glasgow and Edinburgh, with little other provision for this community of worship elsewhere. In Inverness Gaelic services are held at the East Church, Academy Street (LB35125) and the Episcopal Cathedral (LB35330). Gaelic worship has been maintained in Edinburgh since 1704, with services for Gaelic-speaking soldiers held at Edinburgh Castle. The Gaelic Service moved from church to church around Edinburgh, settling at Greyfriars Tolbooth & Highland Kirk (LB27018) in 1979, the new name reflecting the presence of a Gaelic congregation.
Eaglais Ghàidhlig Chaluim Cille / St Columba Gaelic Church (known colloquially as the Highland Cathedral or the Gaelic Cathedral) relates directly to the history of Gaelic worship in Scotland. Within this context, the cultural and social history of the Church, as a principle focal point for worship in the Gaelic language outside of the Highlands (1904 to 2021), is of special historic interest.
Association with people or events of national importance
There is no direct association with a person or event of national importance. The church has a wider association with the Reverend Dr Norman Macleod (1783-1862) who was minister of the predecessor (and now demolished) St Columba Parish Church on Hope Street from 1835 to 1862. He founded and edited the first of the Gaelic journals containing dialogues, sermons and folktales. He was also a supporter of the interests of migrating Highlanders dispossessed as a result of the clearances and played a major role in the creation of an educational infrastructure for the Highlands.
Statutory address and listed building record revised in 2022 and category of listing changed from B to A. Previously listed as '300 St Vincent Street, St Columba's (Gaelic) Parish Church, Church of Scotland'.