On Wednesday 23rd April, contractors working for Scottish Power discovered fragmentary human remains in Ingram Street, Glasgow. The find was made at the northern end of Candleriggs, just outside the former Ramshorn Kirk.
The 'A' Listed Ramshorn Kirk was built in 1824-1826 on the site of an earlier post-Reformation church, the North Western Church, which itself had been built on the north side of the west end of Canon Street. The North Western Church had a graveyard surrounding it which extended further south than the present pavement line of Ingram Street, so this is not the first time that bodies have been found during works in the area. A lair plan of burial plots for the old church survives, showing the location of burials from 1719 until 1815. Most lairs were emptied of their remains in the past, but some bodies were not located for removal and reburial, and it is these that have since been discovered during building or infrastructure works.
Also uncovered by the Scottish Power works was a stone wall foundation near the middle of the modern street, well away from any known modern building. When plotted on our mapping system, it lies very near to where the old graveyard wall ran along the side of Canon Street, so it is likely that it is a fragment of the earlier churchyard wall. This is the first time any part of the earlier church or its enclosing wall has been found.
The human remains are being dealt with by a forensic archaeologist from the University of Glasgow.
Canon Street (Canon Loan) was an early Glasgow street which had its origins in the medieval period. It had formed part of the back lanes around the properties leading off the main streets of the burgh, and led west from Greyfriars Wynd, a narrow passage to the High Street. The old street was lost when the widened and straightened eastern extension of Ingram Street was created in the late nineteenth century to join it to the High Street.