Ramshorn Kirk, Photo, Architect, Location, Date, Image, Scotland, Address

Ramshorn Kirk Glasgow

St David’s Kirk : Merchant City Church – Historic Scottish Building

post updated 21 December 2021

Ramshorn Kirk

St David’s Kirk is also known as the Ramshorn Kirk

Ramshorn Kirk photo © Adrian Welch

Title: Ramshorn Kirk

Date built: 1824-26

Address: Ramshorn Kirk, 98 Ingram Street, Merchant City

Architect: Thomas Rickman

The Ramshorn is a former church building located on Ingram Street in the Merchant City area.

It is home to SCILT, Scotland’s National Centre for Languages and the Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools (CISS), both centres within the University of Strathclyde. The building is owned by the University, which bought the church in 1983 and used it as a theatre and performance space from 1992 until 2011.

The former church building sits within the Ramshorn Cemetery, one of Glasgow’s oldest burial grounds. The Ramshorn was originally built as St David’s Parish Church in 1824, replacing a church that had stood on the site since 1720.

Now a category A listed building, it was designed by English architect Thomas Rickman in the Gothic Revival style. This was the only Scottish church he designed.

Many of the stained-glass windows in the building are the work of W and J J Kier of Glasgow. They depict stories from the Old and New Testament.

Merchant City church at 98 Ingram St by Thomas Rickman:

St Davids Kirk, photo © Adrian Welch