Trinity College, Glasgow: A Presbyterian Theological College
Site at a Glance
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Modern
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- British
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- University
On this page6 sections
History
Foundation and growth
Trinity College is a Scottish theological college in Glasgow, United Kingdom, established by the Free Church of Scotland in 1856. The Church’s creation followed the Disruption of 1843, a major split within Scottish Presbyterianism. The new Free Church established separate colleges to train ministers, including institutions in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
Local subscriptions funded the Glasgow college, which offered multidisciplinary teaching outside the University of Glasgow’s Faculty of Divinity. A design competition took place in 1856, and the college building was probably completed around 1861. It was enlarged in 1869–71 and again in 1902. Thomas Martin Lindsay, a Scottish theologian and church historian, became professor of church history in 1872 and principal in 1902. The adjacent Park Church burned in 1903; after restoration, it served as the college library.
Reunion and institutional continuity
Following the reunions of the principal Scottish Presbyterian churches in 1929–30, the university’s theological teaching facility and the Church college were reintegrated. The college took the name Trinity College in 1930. Its building was altered in 1933 and modernized in 1939–41. In 1970 it received Category A listing, Scotland’s highest grade for buildings of special architectural or historic interest, and became part of a broader listed group.
The Church-owned buildings at Park Circus were vacated in 1976, after which theology teaching took place in the University’s Faculty of Divinity. Trinity College continued without its own buildings. It provides special supervision for ministry candidates through a principal appointed by the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly and a College Council, and serves as a liaison between the University of Glasgow, the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church of Scotland. Its archives are held by the University of Glasgow Archives Services.
Remains
The former college building stands on Lynedoch Street, northwest of Glasgow city centre, beside Park Church. Its principal facade faces north, and a further tower rises from its west side.
North facade
Two slender towers frame the north-facing facade, with forms drawing on the Lombard style of medieval northern Italy. The ground floor has rusticated masonry, whose faces are deliberately roughened, and ornamented round-arched windows. Some windows have sculpted spandrels, the spaces between an arch and its surrounding frame. Cornices and decorative friezes divide the facade horizontally; paired Corinthian columns, with ornate capitals, and a triangular pediment add detail.
West tower
The west-side tower stands above the main portal of the former church. It includes balconies with pilastered entrance portals, framed by shallow projections resembling columns, and ends in a broad projecting cornice supported by large consoles, or projecting supports.
