Townhead-Blochairn Church of Scotland, Roystonhill

Image: © Raymond Okonski Taken: 16 Feb 2008

Located on Roystonhill to the north of Glasgow city centre, the spire of this ruined church still dominates the skyline of the city, and has been illuminated at night since 1998. Built in 1865 for the Church of Scotland, it barely made its centenary before being closed due to low congregation numbers. It contained stained-glass windows by the world-famous William Morris company featuring beautiful designs by Glasgow artist Daniel Cottier. The church building itself was designed by Campbell Douglas and J.J. Stevenson. It was sold into private ownership in 1992 with the church building being used as a warehouse. Despite being an A-Listed protected structure, eventually the church building was demolished because of the neglect of the structure, but the spire - which was of considerable merit - was left untouched, and you can see the buttresses which still remains today. Interestingly, OS do not show the spire on their 1:50 or 1:25 mapping. The area surrounding the spire was turned into a park and play area, however the area is gated and locked to prevent access when the nearby nursery on the same site closed. A website showing the development of the site is here; http://www.brocweb.com/spire/

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