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Provand's Lordship

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golondon
golondon
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Provand's Lordship

  • August 15, 2006
  • Rated 4 of 5 by Drever from Ayr
Provand's Lordship

Provand's Lordship, opposite Glasgow Cathedral, is a rare example of 15th-century Scottish domestic architecture. Its survival has been due to the efforts of the Provand’s Lordship Society. Because of their work and later others you can step, free, into Glasgow's past in the only house to survive from the medieval city. Even better you can take photographs - something that disallowed in many Scottish historic buildings nowadays.

Built in 1471, it as a sandstone tenement with three stories each containing three separate rooms with fireplaces. Access to the first and second floors was by a central wooden stair. Wooden balconies provided access to the upper chambers but internal stairs have replaced these.

The house served as the Preceptor's House of the Hospital of St Nicholas that was built by Andrew Muirhead, Bishop of Glasgow. His coat of arms appears on the eastern side of the south gable. Later the ‘Lord of the Prebend of Barlanark’ occupied the house and through time it became known as ‘Provand’s Lordship’.

Eventually the house fell into decline and served in turn as a sweets shop, a soft drink factory, the home of the city hangman in the 18th century, and a junk shop. Scheduled for demolition by the end of the 19th century, the Provand's Lordship Society saved it for posterity and turned into a museum. The Glasgow District Council took over its care in 1978. A local builder then renovated the building - charging one penny for his work. Extensively restored, it now gives a flavour of life in medieval Glasgow with period displays and a spooky re-creation of the old hangman's room.

The interior doorways are low and narrow, and most people have to duck their head to enter the various rooms, which even with electric lighting seem gloomy. These contain furniture dating from the 16th to 18th centuries most of which were collected by Sir William Burrell wealthy philanthropists, best known for the Burrell Collection in Pollok Country Park.

The ground floor has displays about the history of the house. On the first floor is a reconstruction of the furnished chamber of Cuthbert Simson who lived here as a chaplain at the beginning of the 16th century. The upper chambers contain pictures of some of Scotland's famous historic figures - Bonnie Prince Charlie, Lord Darnley, husband to Mary Queen of Scots, and her son James VI (who became James I of England). Various paintings depicting Glasgow’s past are also on display. In one room hangs a wooden Coat of Arms from the 16th century that belonged to Henry Hastings, third Earl of Huntingdon (1536-95).

Behind the house is the St Nicholas garden, built in 1997. It is a medical herb garden, containing medicinal plants in use in the fifteenth century, designed to reflect the original purpose of the house.

This corner of old Glasgow containing the Cathedral, St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art and the Provand’s Lordship house is well worth a visit.

From journal Glasgow, Medieval and Maritime

Provand's Lordship

  • October 5, 2001
  • Rated 3 of 5 by golondon from McAllen, Texas
Directly across the street from Glasgow Cathedral and St. Mungo's Museum of Religion is this oddly named sight. Provand's Lordship is the oldest house in Glasgow, built in either 1456 or 1471. It's very dark, low ceilinged and interesting. Behind the house is Nicholas Garden, a cloistered garden with a physic section and a knot garden.

From journal Glasgow .. Cool At Last

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