The kingdom ruled from Glasgow where Picts, Saints and Vikings mingled

Govan on the southside of the Clyde became the spiritual centre of the Kingdom of Strathclyde after the dynasty moved upriver from its centre at Dumbarton Rock following a Viking raid on its citadel in 870.

It is here where the very early roots of the City of Glasgow , which this year celebrates the 850th anniversary of its burgh status, can also be found.

READ MORE: Ancient ‘Govan Warrior’ carving found in Glasgow

Professor Stephen Driscoll, of Glasgow University, who has explored the archaeology of Govan Old Parish Church for more than 30 years, will this week deliver the 2025 Dalrymple Lectures on how archaeology tells the story of Glasgow - and what came before it.

Much of his work has focussed on the church’s remarkable collection of 31 carved stones, dating from to the 9th to 11th Centuries, which reflect the crossroads of identities, beliefs and culture of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, which spanned today’s south of Scotland and north west England.

Among the stones is the “remarkable” Govan Sarcophagus, said to hold the remains of St Constantine, the King of the Picts and son of Kenneth MacAlpin, who was killed in Viking Raid in the late 9th Century.

Prof Driscoll said: “By the 10th century Govan has developed into being the major church in the Kingdom of Strathclyde and the reason it is the major church is because it has this remarkable sarcophagus containing the relics of a St Constantine. For whatever reason that is a hugely popular and powerful cult.

“We don't know why it takes off, but it does.

“And as a consequence all the great and the good want to be buried there.

“So we have this huge collection of sculptures. The only places that have this scale of sculpture from the early Middle Ages are Iona and St Andrews. It is a major place.

“We can imagine that it is a place populated by the nobility at one level but it must have attracted people from quite a big hinterland as well because the number of burial monuments , there is nothing comparable at all

“So we think they are coming from some distance, perhaps to be buried near to the saint. That is the attraction - if you are buried near to the saint somehow that gives you an inside track to heaven.”

Opposite the church at Govan at Partick lay a royal settlement. At low tide, it was possible to walk - or ride on horseback - between the two.

Prof Driscoll added: “Eventully a castle was built at Partick, but we don’t know what it was like in that early period. We can imagine that it had a number of large halls, almost barn-like buildings that would have been communal gathering places and these buildings are represented on some of the gravestones.”

Among the stones at Govan are the “exceptional” hogbacks, believed to be the burial stones of the kings of the local aristocracy which were carved to represent the great halls and houses of the Viking chieftains. Mythical, protective creatures further decorate them.

Prof Driscoll said, at the time, political marriage would have been “hugely popular” with Picts marrying into Viking lines and vice versa.

He added: “St Constantine is almost certainly a Pict so if we are right in our analysis that he is Constantine I , he is actually King of the Picts - but his sister is married to the King of Strathclyde.

“In terms of the Scandinavian Norse presence, we have quite a lot of evidence of the Norse settling in the Hebrides and the Firth of Clyde and so on and they are inter-marrying and settling there so I think that what we are seeing at Old Govan is Norse culture being embraced.

“Some of these big Vikings would have settled and become part of the local aristocracy. That is why we see some of these Viking motifs appearing on sculpture.

“They are already assimilating and they are getting into the Christian way of doing things.”

In 2023, a carving of the “Govan Warrior” was found by Prof Driscoll, with the male figure - complete with shield, sharply pointed beard and ponytail - likened to the Pictish figures found on stones in the east of Scotland.

Its discovery opened up the possibility of Govan being a a key stop-off site on routes that connected the ruling Pictish dynasties in the east witht with Ireland via the Isle of Man.

Govan at the time was open, fertile farmland with no sign of settlement. Pilgrims are likely to have travelled there, with the Kelvin tributary making it relatively accessible and its position on the Clyde making it more secure than Dumbarton.

Then, change comes - and the beginnings of Glasgow as we know it are born under the rule of David I, who inherits the right to rule the Kingdom of Strathclyde but chooses a new direction for his own emerging dynasty.

He re-establishes the Diocese of Glasgow and installs his tutor and confidant John, as Bishop of Glasgow in or soon after 1114, and assigns much of his land to his governance and control. Glasgow Cathedral is first dedicated in 1136, with the present structure consecrated in 1197.

Prof Driscoll said: “That is the big shift, when things move to Glasgow.

“They take all the royal estates and they give them to the Bishop so the Diocese of Glasgow is basically the Kingdom of Strathclyde - but rebranded.

READ MORE: Carvings from lost medieval kingdom found by schoolboy

“There is a very conscious decision to distance themselves from Govan because it has all these links to this old dynasty which you have just taken all the resources from.

“So it is a brand new site - and a brand new saint, Saint Mungo. They were definitely going for a different guy.

“The other critical thing is they decide they are going to have a town. They want an urban place as they want a place to make money. By creating a market and property, they can tax it. So this is the grand strategy of the King of Scotland to create a number of burghs so they can create income - and that is what is going on in Glasgow.

“Unlike other burghs, such as Edinburgh, Perth or Aberdeen, where the king remains the big cheese, here it is the Bishop of Glasgow.”

Professor Driscoll’s Dalrymple Lectures - Stones, Saints, Ships and Slaves - will take place on Thursday and Friday and will span the medieval period to Glasgow’s imperial and industrial legacies. The lectures will be held in the Charles Wilson Lecture Theatre at 6.30pm on both days and will also be live streamed.

READ MORE: Love Scottish history? So do we , so sign up to our heritage newsletter and get all the best stories delivered to your inbox