Gallus Glasgow Q: Queen’s Cross

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Queen's Cross Church

Queen’s Cross Church is the only one ever completed to a design by Charles Rennie Mackintosh (he entered the competition for Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral but his design was not selected). Queen’s Cross was commissioned by the Free Church in 1896 and served as a place of worship from 1899 to the 1970s. After decommissioning it did not, like many other churches, become a pub or a private home. It now belongs to the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society and can be visited for a small sum.

I’m not too keen on the rather stumpy external appearance of the church – there are far more beautiful Mackintosh buildings in Glasgow – but I love the internal details which are much more delicate. There’s a lightness created by the white walls and the sparing use of stained glass.

By dave souza (Own work) GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0), via Wikimedia Commons
By dave souza (Own work) GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0), via Wikimedia Commons

Mind you, I haven’t visited for a while (as you might guess from the use of Wikimedia images) so perhaps it’s time to go back for a re-appraisal!

Tomorrow, in R, we’ll visit a museum as an introduction to the type of buildings associated with it.

Postscript: a gallus Glasgow weekend

To show that the Gallus Glasgow A to Z is not just something I plucked out of the air, but truly reflects Glaswegian life, see how many I managed to check off this weekend!

  • On Friday, I was at O for Oran Mor for a Play, a Pie and a Pint – one of the best I’ve been to, a modern update of the Whisky Galore story. In Gaelic!
  • On Saturday evening, I had a C for curry before going to B for Barrowland to see Seasick Steve. He was wonderful and, unlike many bands who act as if they are doing the audience a favour, made a point of thanking us, the citizens of the UK for giving him his job. He credits his explosion in popularity to his appearance on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny in 2006 – I remember that well: he certainly made an impression.
  • During the day on Saturday and Sunday I have been at the M for Mitchell Library volunteering at Aye, Write!, Glasgow’s Book Festival. (“Aye, write” is a pun on “aye, right!”, a Glaswegian example of a double positive giving a negative. If you say, for example, “David Cameron is the best Prime Minister the UK has ever had” and I say “Aye, right!” I am definitely not agreeing with you.)
  • While in the Main Hall at the Mitchell, my eyes wandered upward to another example of the Glasgow coat of arms as discussed in L for Let Glasgow Flourish. Apologies for the blurry phone photo taken from the back of the hall.
Poppadums and dip
Aye, write!
Let Glasgow Flourish

I make that 5 in one weekend – not bad!

A to Z Challenge 2015, Scotland, UK , ,

36 Comments »

  1. I have to agree with you about the outside of the church. My first thought was that someone had lopped off the steeple. I do like the interior, though. It looks simple and comfortable.
    That’s great that you got all those A to Z things in over a weekend. You not only talk the talk, but you walk the walk, as they say. 🙂

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  2. I wouldn’t have been able to guess that was a church from the outside. All the soot(?) on the bricks make it look like a factory! But you’re right: the interior is lovely. 🙂

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  3. Seasick Steve looks like such a great performer. I loved him when he was on Jools Holland. I noticed he was coming to Glasgow when we were over for an appointment last month.

    And I love that church inside, it looks beautiful.

    Cait @ Click’s Clan

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  4. Oh :O I never realised “Aye, right” was a double positive!

    Love CRM and adore that stained glass window. Must visit some time.

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    • I like the austerity of the interior. Ornate churches always make me think – if they hadn’t spent all this on the building, what good deeds could they have done with the money?

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  7. I completely agree with your assessment – much better looking on the inside than the out. I would never have guessed that the inside looked anything like that from the exterior appearance!

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