There has been a church and burial ground on the site of Govan Old Church for many centuries and much of its history is documented inside the building, which now serves as a museum and visitor centre as well as a place of Christian worship. Our walking group had the good fortune of visiting there for a tour and to find out about the thirty one sculpted stones that are housed in the building. These were carved as far back as the ninth to eleventh centuries and include five Viking hogback stones and the Govan Sarcophagus, which is the only one of its kind carved from solid stone from northern Britain.
Our tour guide Bren imparted lots of information and made our visit very interesting. Our other host Scott greeted us when we arrived and was very apologetic that currently the accessibility to the building is challenging. There are a number of steps that lead up to the entrance and the portable ramp that is on hand is therefore very steep. Ruth, our wheeler, found that the best way for her to enter and exit the building was on foot, with her chair being carried in and out separately. Clearly this wouldn’t be an option for everyone. There is also a raised altar with a couple of steps that prevented Ruth from seeing the Govan Sarcophagus up close but Bren had a miniature 3d printed model that clearly showed the detailed carvings. There are plans to build an extension onto the west side of the building and install a lift and other facilities to make the building more accessible and comfortable for visitors.
Our next plan was to cross the new footbridge to visit the Riverside Museum. This was delayed slightly by something quite exciting as we were treated to seeing the bridge in motion and pivoting round to allow passage through to a masted boat. This was a very smooth operation that didn’t take a great deal of time and as it was such a lovely day we were happy to stand and watch this feat of engineering do its thing.
We had all been to visit the Riverside Museum before but there’s always something new to see and enjoy. The building is great for accessibility and has excellent toilet facilities with both regular accessible toilets and a Changing Places room. After a look around the museum we went back across the bridge to take the subway back to the city centre. On the way we made a stop off at The Magpie’s Eye, a marvellous charity shop with an extensive book section where a number of bargain purchases were made.
Links
Govan Old Church is open to the public until the end of October and further information can be found at The Govan Stones – Early medieval carved stones displayed at the Govan Old Parish Church in Glasgow
Riverside Museum of Transport details at Riverside Museum – Glasgow Life
The Magpie’s Eye at The Magpie’s Eye – Starter Packs Glasgow
This project is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.
