Glasgow's East End – Cathedral, Necropolis and the Barras
A day on foot, from Glasgow Queen Street to Glasgow Cross.
The route
Glasgow began, the story goes, on the hill where St Mungo built his church, and the walk from there down to the Clyde takes in the city's history in a single day.
It starts at Queen Street and heads up to the medieval cathedral and the Necropolis, the Victorian city of the dead on the hill behind it, with the oldest house in Glasgow just across the square. Then it's down the High Street past Smug's murals of St Mungo and his mother, through Glasgow Cross and along the Gallowgate to the Barras, the old weekend market beside the Barrowland's famous neon sign. The afternoon belongs to Glasgow Green, the city's oldest park, and the day ends with a beer in the Templeton building, a carpet factory dressed up as a Venetian palace. It's about 4 miles on foot, with one steep climb through the Necropolis.
Before you go
Book a bed near the Merchant City
Stay near the Merchant City and the day starts ten minutes from Queen Street and ends a short walk from your door. From 25 January 2027 Glasgow adds a visitor levy of 5% to every night of a paid stay. Book once your dates are set.
The nearest of ours is Moment Blythswood Street. Sleeps 2.
Booking a time slot online is advised, and an audio guide can be added.
The day
East End
A day on foot through the oldest part of Glasgow, from St Mungo's cathedral and the Necropolis on its hill down the High Street, past the murals, to the Gallowgate and the Barras. The afternoon opens out on Glasgow Green by the Clyde, and the day ends with a beer in a carpet factory built to look like a Venetian palace. Set off from Queen Street at about 9.10am.
Glasgow Cathedral
An attraction
It's a 21-minute walk from Queen Street along Cathedral Street to Glasgow Cathedral. With St Magnus in Kirkwall, it is one of only two medieval cathedrals in Scotland to come through the Reformation almost whole. Take the 25 steps down to the lower church, where St Mungo's tomb lies. The spire is under scaffolding for now, but the cathedral stays open. From October to March it opens at 10am, so climb the Necropolis first. On Sundays it opens only at 1pm, and the day runs the other way round.
About 5 min on foot
The Necropolis
An attraction
Five minutes round the cathedral is the Bridge of Sighs, named for the funeral processions that crossed it into the Necropolis. The great Victorian cemetery opened in 1833, and its paths climb steeply between obelisks, temples and tombs to John Knox on his column at the top, raised in 1825, before there was a cemetery here at all. Look out for the Celtic cross Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed for Andrew McCall, though Mackintosh himself isn't buried here. The gates shut at 4.30pm, so this is a morning climb.
3 min on foot
St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art
An attraction
Back over the bridge, it's a 3-minute walk to St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art on Cathedral Square. It's free, and its galleries look at how people across the world live their faiths, through art and the everyday things they treasure, with a small Zen garden outside. There are lifts to every floor, and its toilets are the only public ones up here. The café has closed and the shop sells only grab-and-go snacks, so lunch is at the Barras, about an hour on.
Provand's Lordship
Just across Castle Street, a minute's walk, Provand's Lordship is the oldest house left in Glasgow, built in 1471 as part of St Nicholas's Hospital. Its low, beamed rooms are furnished with 17th-century pieces, and a stone spiral stair climbs to the two upper floors. It's free. Slip out the back into the St Nicholas Garden, a quiet green square where a row of carved stone faces, the Tontine Heads, looks down from the wall. Half an hour is about right.
About 5 min on foot
Murals of St Mungo & St Enoch
An attraction
Five minutes down the High Street is the gable where the artist Smug painted St Mungo in 2016, the city's saint as a man of our own time with a robin in his hands. A picture of it was shared about a million and a half times in its first week. Round the corner on George Street, Smug's St Enoch, Mungo's mother, looks out from a frame of foxgloves in green and purple. Further along George Street, Strathclyde University's painted walls climb the hill.
17 min on foot
The Barras
An attraction
It's a 17-minute walk down the High Street, past the Tolbooth Steeple at Glasgow Cross, and along the Gallowgate to the Barras arch. The market trades on Saturdays and Sundays: second-hand stalls, Randall's antiques and records, and BAaD's courtyard, with Scran n Swally for lunch. Bring cash. Beside the arch is the Barrowland Ballroom's 1980s neon sign. Maggie McIver built the ballroom for her traders in 1934, and it was rebuilt after a fire in 1958. Across the Gallowgate, the Saracen Head, known as the Sarry Heid, has poured pints since 1904.
8 min on foot
Glasgow Green
An attraction
It's an 8-minute walk through the market and along Greendyke Street to Nelson's Monument of 1806, in the middle of Glasgow Green. The Green is the city's oldest park, granted to its people in 1450. The walk on to WEST passes the red sandstone People's Palace, closed until at least December 2029, and the Doulton Fountain in front of it, a great terracotta piece made for the 1888 exhibition, now damaged by vandals. The Great Scottish Run finishes here in October, and TRNSMT sets up its stages each summer.
9 min on foot
WEST on the Green
An attraction
It's a 9-minute walk from Nelson's Monument, past the Palace and the fountain, to the Templeton building, William Leiper's carpet factory in the style of the Doge's Palace in Venice, all coloured brick and mosaic. In 1889 its unfinished front blew down onto the weaving sheds, killing 29 women. WEST brews its beer on the ground floor, and the beer garden looks out over the Green. Saturday's last brewery tour is at 6pm. Glasgow Cross is a 17-minute walk back through the park and out under the McLennan Arch.
If it rains
The whole morning is under a roof: the cathedral, St Mungo Museum and Provand's Lordship, all free and all on Cathedral Square, so give them longer and keep the Necropolis to a look from the Bridge of Sighs, as its paths turn slippery in the wet. At the Barras, Randall's warehouse and BAaD's hall are under cover, and lunch can be long. Glasgow Green shrinks to the walk past the People's Palace and the Doulton Fountain to WEST's beer hall, which is indoors.
Worth a detour
- Tennent's Story Heritage Centre
An 8-minute walk from the Bridge of Sighs along Duke Street, Tennent's Wellpark brewery is the home of Tennent's Lager. Its heritage tour ends with a pint, but it is booked ahead, runs over an hour and is for over-18s only, so it makes the day a long one.
- Glasgow Women's Library
A 16-minute walk south-east from the Barras along London Road to Bridgeton, the Glasgow Women's Library is a free museum and library of women's history, open on Saturdays from noon to 4pm. From there WEST is a 9-minute walk back along London Road, and Bridgeton station is just round the corner.
GlasgowSaint Luke's & The Winged OxA restaurant
GlasgowBuck's Bar TrongateA restaurant
GlasgowMonoA restaurant
GlasgowCafe GandolfiGlasgow favourite since 1979
GlasgowThe DhabbaNorth Indian, since 2002
GlasgowSmokey Trotters KitchenA restaurant
GlasgowBare Bones ChocolateChocolate factory, weekdays only
GlasgowBabbity BowsterPub with a beer garden
GlasgowThe Wilson Street PantryCafé and deli, since 2014
GlasgowDakhinGluten-free South Indian
GlasgowDrygate BreweryBrewery with a kitchen
GlasgowSwadishModern Indian, Scottish produceMake it a weekend
More days out in Glasgow.
Photographs by Andrew Brown and WEST Brewery via Google