Ramshorn

Eighteen granite slabs outside entrance to Ramshorn Theatre, Ingram Street, Glasgow City Centre

Commissioned by Glasgow City Council

The Skeleton

The skeleton is holding coins and a chain, under a crescent moon and stars. The skeleton could be one of the ‘Strangers’ who are buried in graves in the churchyard. The chain could relate to the idea of slavery; it also links to the chains further on in the drawings. The coins could refer to the ‘Resurrectionists’ who stole bodies from the graves to sell for anatomical study. The idea of gold is also used later on.

Genesis in the Retort

The illustration of the retort is in reference to John Anderson – or Jolly Jack Phosphorus - Professor of Natural Philosophy and founder of the University of Strathclyde, who is buried in the church. The image is adapted from a book by a professor of chemistry printed in 1718 called Elementa chemicae. It shows the process of making the Philosopher’s Stone.  The ascending bird (which could be a lark or a dove) symbolizes the distillation of mercury.

Other motifs include:

The Trees

In 1818, two trees were removed for the widening of the road. The pavement trees – a stylized yew tree and a laburnum tree – are in honor of the missing trees. Yew trees are often associated with churchyards. The laburnum, or ‘golden chain’ tree, symbolizes the building’s current use.

The Yew Tree

The candle below the yew tree refers to the ‘Caunnel Kirk’ established by David Dale, the philanthropist, who is buried in the Ramshorn. The book with the initials refers to the Foulis Press, which was founded in 1742 by the Foulis Brothers, both of whom are buried near the Ramshorn. The wheat beside the tree refers to the church and to the early rural nature of the land. Angels blow trumpets, or horns, around the top of the tree.

The Laburnum Tree

Laburnums are sometimes called golden chain trees because of their chains of yellow flowers. The pavement tree symbolizes the link between the old and the new story of the building. To the left of the tree is a vine, referring to the church. To the right, a chain links it to modern times. More angels blow their trumpets around the crown of the tree.

The Church Silhouettes

The original church - St David’s - was built 1719-24 through public subscription. According to a contemporary report it was surrounded by orchards of cherry and apple trees, gooseberry and currant bushes, kail, leeks and herbs. Early in the nineteenth century, the church was demolished. Thomas Rickman, a Quaker from Maidenhead, was employed to design the new building in the Gothic style, completed in 1824.

Circle of Angels

This is inspired by the circular stained glass window above the stairs to the Ramshorn. It shows a central angel flanked by five others, flying out in different directions.

The Ladder

The ladder with flame, light and clouds refers to a disaster in Cheapside Street, Anderston, in 1960. A warehouse exploded killing nineteen firemen. Some of the firemen were laid out in the Ramshorn before being taken in a long procession to be buried in the Necropolis. The image itself is inspired by a picture from Utriusque Cosmi, a book by Robert Fludd printed in 1619.

Titania and Bottom

This picture shows an audience watching a scene from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in which the queen of the mystical world is bewitched into loving a foolish mortal dressed as an ass. Connections have been made between this play and The Golden Ass by Apuleius. This continues the theme of gold, begun with the skeleton’s coins and continued in the laburnum tree.

Spiral of Words

The last words of the spiral refer to the date that the church became a theatre: 1992. It begins with two of the earliest productions by Strathclyde Theatre Group, founded in 1971. The first play was Everyman. The Golden City was a promenade performance, and returns the idea of gold into the city itself.