Family-friendly fun on offer at Glasgow’s oldest house during Easter school holidays.
Provand’s Lordship, the oldest house in Glasgow, will host a series of family-friendly activities during the
Easter school holidays to mark its reopening.
Glasgow Life, the charity delivering culture and sport in Glasgow, has confirmed the museum will welcome
back visitors from Friday 29 March.
Provand’s Lordship is reopening following essential £1.6 million repair works, which will protect the
building for generations to come and return it to an authentic 15 th century appearance. The museum offers
an opportunity to step back into the Glasgow of 500 years ago and is one of only four surviving medieval
buildings in the city.
To celebrate its reopening, Provand’s Lordship will host a series of drop-in sessions, starting with a Haven
for Nature event in its Herb Garden on 2, 3 and 4 April (1.30-4.00pm daily). The family-friendly sessions give
visitors a chance to enjoy craft activities and find out what creatures live in and around the garden.
The museum will also be home to Echoes of the Past events on 7 and 13 April (11.00am-4.00pm). The
sessions are run by Living History Scotland and take visitors back in time to hear 16th century music and
song from the court of James V and Mary Queen of Scots.
Pose for Provand’s Portraits sessions will take place at Provand’s Lordship on 8, 9, 10, 11 and 14 April (1.30-
4.00pm) to give people an opportunity to dress up in period costumes and take selfies while learning about
the building’s history. A Scottish Stories for All event will also be held at the museum on 12 April (11.00-
4.00pm).
More information about other family-friendly activities at Provand’s Lordship can be found on the
museum’s What’s on page on the Glasgow Life website.
The work at Provand’s Lordship includes repairs to the building’s roof, chimneys, and downpipes. Doors
and windows have been replaced in original styles and protection against rising damp has been added.
Visitors can learn more about the programme by watching a new, in-museum video interview with the
conservationist architect who worked on the project.
Artefacts, including 17 th century furniture and royal portraits, are back in place after being stored in
Glasgow Museums Resource Centre when Provand’s Lordship closed for the preservation work in July 2022.
Duncan Dornan, Head of Museums and Collections, Glasgow Life, said: “The reopening of Provand’s
Lordship is a major boost for Glasgow and its cultural sector, and there is lots for visitors to look forward to.
The museum offers both a fascinating insight into life in Glasgow during medieval times and a number of
activities for all the family. The preservation of Provand’s Lordship helps to secure a sustainable future for
one of our city’s most important cultural and historical buildings.”
Provand’s Lordship, the oldest house in Glasgow, will host a series of family-friendly activities during the
Easter school holidays to mark its reopening.
Glasgow Life, the charity delivering culture and sport in Glasgow, has confirmed the museum will welcome
back visitors from Friday 29 March.
Provand’s Lordship is reopening following essential £1.6 million repair works, which will protect the
building for generations to come and return it to an authentic 15 th century appearance. The museum offers
an opportunity to step back into the Glasgow of 500 years ago and is one of only four surviving medieval
buildings in the city.
To celebrate its reopening, Provand’s Lordship will host a series of drop-in sessions, starting with a Haven
for Nature event in its Herb Garden on 2, 3 and 4 April (1.30-4.00pm daily). The family-friendly sessions give
visitors a chance to enjoy craft activities and find out what creatures live in and around the garden.
The museum will also be home to Echoes of the Past events on 7 and 13 April (11.00am-4.00pm). The
sessions are run by Living History Scotland and take visitors back in time to hear 16th century music and
song from the court of James V and Mary Queen of Scots.
Pose for Provand’s Portraits sessions will take place at Provand’s Lordship on 8, 9, 10, 11 and 14 April (1.30-
4.00pm) to give people an opportunity to dress up in period costumes and take selfies while learning about
the building’s history. A Scottish Stories for All event will also be held at the museum on 12 April (11.00-
4.00pm).
More information about other family-friendly activities at Provand’s Lordship can be found on the
museum’s What’s on page on the Glasgow Life website.
The work at Provand’s Lordship includes repairs to the building’s roof, chimneys, and downpipes. Doors
and windows have been replaced in original styles and protection against rising damp has been added.
Visitors can learn more about the programme by watching a new, in-museum video interview with the
conservationist architect who worked on the project.
Artefacts, including 17 th century furniture and royal portraits, are back in place after being stored in
Glasgow Museums Resource Centre when Provand’s Lordship closed for the preservation work in July 2022.
Duncan Dornan, Head of Museums and Collections, Glasgow Life, said: “The reopening of Provand’s
Lordship is a major boost for Glasgow and its cultural sector, and there is lots for visitors to look forward to.
The museum offers both a fascinating insight into life in Glasgow during medieval times and a number of
activities for all the family. The preservation of Provand’s Lordship helps to secure a sustainable future for
one of our city’s most important cultural and historical buildings.”
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:07 My name is Duncan Dornan. I'm Head of Museums and Collections for Glasgow Life.
00:13 We're here in Provins Lordship, Glasgow's oldest house, a medieval building,
00:17 to mark its reopening to the public after a major investment and refurbishment.
00:21 We're really excited to reopen the building which speaks to the origins of Glasgow
00:26 and really gives people a sense of how Glasgow developed from those earliest days.
00:30 So a very substantial project. The building's been closed for, and working on this for around two years.
00:36 Major improvements to the fabric of the building, the stonework, the windows,
00:41 stabilising it, giving it durability for the future, and also helping to improve the environmental sustainability
00:47 so better insulation and therefore better to protect the collections and create a comfortable and stable environment.
00:52 So really excited to be able to see this reopen and a major contribution from the construction company,
00:58 the architects and the museum team in informing that and re-displaying it.
01:02 This and the cathedral are the two oldest buildings in the city and it gives people a really clear physical sense
01:10 of where Glasgow was built and why Glasgow is here and everything that Glasgow is has evolved from that.
01:15 So this location was really critical to why the Christian settlement was established here
01:20 and it established that connection down to the river which of course we know was the very fundamental resource
01:25 that Glasgow had that caused it to develop so successfully.
01:28 So if you want to understand Glasgow you have to start here with the cathedral,
01:32 with St Mungo's and Province Lordship to really understand what Glasgow grew from.
01:36 Glasgow Life have worked with the City Council, with City Building,
01:39 and with a team of specialist conservation architects to develop and deliver this project
01:43 so we can maintain the fabric of the building, ensure the interventions are faithful to the original design
01:49 intent and they'll sustain it over the years.
01:52 What we're able to do with the conservation architects is to identify technologies
01:57 which are appropriate and sympathetic to the way this building was designed.
02:01 So for example the use of lime render on the outside of the building in lime and the joints
02:06 means that the building and the stonework are able to manage moisture in the way it was originally designed and intended
02:10 and that makes it much more stable and resilient.
02:13 St Mungo's will open to the public again tomorrow on the 29th.
02:16 We're open from 10 until 5 every day except Fridays and Sundays when we open at 11am.
02:21 As with all of Glasgow's museums, the Civic Museum's entry to Province Lordship is free
02:26 and Province Lordship and St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life next door,
02:30 together with the cathedral, make a really exciting visit and really give you a sense of this city and its origins.
02:36 I'm Martin Bellaby, I'm head of the research and curatorial team for Glasgow Museums.
02:40 I was overseeing the curatorial involvement in the project, so working with the curators
02:46 to unearth the history of the building and the collections that are displayed in the building.
02:51 What we have here is actually a mini Burrell collection.
02:55 William Burrell provided the funds for the Province Lordship Society who took over the collection or the building
03:02 and he gave money to the society to buy collections, furniture and implements that would go into the building
03:12 that were characteristic of the time.
03:15 The building didn't have any surviving furniture or anything.
03:19 It had been private dwelling, it had been a shop, so there was nothing of the original objects that were original to the building.
03:29 So everything for the redisplay of the building as a historic house had to come in separately.
03:34 So William Burrell used his connections and his historic knowledge to work with dealers and other collectors
03:42 to identify Scottish furniture of the time that would be appropriate for the building.
03:48 So there's nothing that was originally in the building from the time,
03:53 but it's all of the type that would have been used at the time.
03:58 It's an important historic collection in its own right and it shows really interesting connections with the actual Burrell collection
04:06 in that the Burrell collection is very much European and English furniture
04:10 and this is the Scottish side of that Burrell collection, if you like.
04:14 It demonstrates Sir William Burrell's real focus and interest in Scottish history.
04:22 I'm Scott Abercrombie, I was the conservation architect on the Province Lordship project.
04:26 So we've been involved for the last two years.
04:29 We got involved first just inspecting the condition of the building and then that developed into a repairs project.
04:34 So we've been involved in inspecting works throughout and specifying all the different repairs.
04:38 So the biggest change that people will notice when they visit the museum today is the change to the external appearance.
04:43 So we restored all the stonework in the building, but as part of that we've also introduced a lime harlan on the outside,
04:48 which is essentially a kind of protective coat for the building which helps protect it from increased rainfall
04:53 and it's also a historic finish that was on the building in the past, so it's taken it back to its historic appearance.
04:58 So there's been loads of improvements to the building through the project,
05:01 everything from upgrading the glazing to double glazing, insulating the loft,
05:05 improving all the services throughout the building and just making sure that it's fit for our current times.
05:11 And was there anything unusual that you came across?
05:14 Yeah, there's a whole host of hidden things that you find in the building.
05:17 All the slates on the roof are fixed with oak pegs rather than nails.
05:21 There's bits and pieces of hidden structure from the different variations that the buildings went through in the different construction periods.
05:29 So yeah, there's loads of different hidden interesting things that you find when you get under the skin of a building like this.
05:34 So yeah, it's fascinating to find a building this old and still see it so well preserved and get the chance to get under the skin of it.
05:39 [Music plays]
05:45 [MUSIC]