The Barony Hall, (formerly the Barony Church), is a deconsecrated church building located on Castle Street in the Townhead area of Glasgow, Scotland, near Glasgow Cathedral, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the city's oldest surviving house, Provand's Lordship. It is built in the red sandstone Victorian neo-Gothic-style. The original or Old Barony Church was built as a part of the Barony Parish in Glasgow by architect, James Adams. It opened in 1799 and served ceremonial and other congregational purposes. The replacement for the old building was designed by J. J. Burnet & J. A. Campbell and raised in 1889, and incorporated architectural artifacts from the old church and a number of other relics.
The New Barony Church was acquired by the University of Strathclyde in 1986. It was restored in 1989 and is now a ceremonial hall and events venue known as the Barony Hall. It is one of the few buildings in the immediate area that survived the slum clearances of the 1960s as part of the Townhead 'Comprehensive Development Area' (CDA).
History
The Barony Church existed from at least 1595 until 1985. Among its notable ministers were Zachary Boyd (1625–1653), Norman McLeod (1851–1872) and John White (1911-1934). Barony Parish received its name from the Barony of Glasgow.
The early Barony Church, which was established in a crypt was mentioned in Sir Walter Scott's Rob Roy. In the book, which was set in the early 18th century, the church was described as :"an extensive range of low-browed, dark, and twilight vaults, such as are used for sepulchres in other countries, and had long been dedicated to the same purpose in this, a portion of which was seated with pews and used as a church. The part of the vaults thus occupied, though capable of containing a congregation of many hundreds, bore a small proportion to the darker and more extensive caverns which yawned around what may be termed the inhabited space."
The condition of the church gradually worsened over time, until it was rebuilt in 1798 by architect James Adam. The new design was praised and criticised. Some considered it an architectural jewel, whilst others despised its looks and considered it borderline unappealing, even repulsive. One of the Church's own ministers, Dr. Norman McLeod, is reported to have advised Queen Victoria that it was "the ugliest Kirk in all Europe". After the new church opened, the old crypt was used as a burial ground until 1844.
However, not even the new building could solve some of the Barony Church's problems. The few roads leading to the church were little more than dirt tracks, making traveling to and from the church difficult for many of the congregation, especially during winter. It also could not sustainably fulfil all the spiritual requirements of the congregation. This led to several Chapels of Ease being built throughout the Barony area, usually by the local people.
The congregation split into four different parishes: Shettleston (1847), Calton (1849), Maryhill (1850) and Springburn (1854). Church attendees decided to return to St. George's Tron, others to Dennistoun Blackfriars and many came back to the place where Barony originated from, Glasgow Cathedral. Some of the relics from the Barony Church were taken back to the cathedral, including the Communion Table, and a chapel was established in the cathedral's crypt.
Eventually, it was decided that a new building was needed to solve the various problems. A site was acquired on the west side of Castle Street and a red sandstone Gothic church, inspired by Girona Cathedral and Dunblane Cathedral, designed by J.J. Burnet & J.A. Campbell as a part of a competition, was finished in 1889. This new building incorporated architectural artifacts from the old church and a number of other relics. It was dedicated in a service on 27 April 1889. An article in the following day's Glasgow Herald made no direct comment on the building but focused on the sermon by John Caird, the Church of Scotland minister and Principal of the University of Glasgow, in which he "dealt with art in relation to worship, stating that it was weak and foolish to identify purity of worship with ruggedness and baseness of form".