ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some closing thoughts on the preceding chapters in this book. The investigations described in the preceding chapters were the first large-scale excavations ever to have been undertaken in a Scottish cathedral. Their most important contribution has been to reveal the distinct architectural forms assumed by the cathedral over the course of the 12th century. Three successive constructions occupied the same sacred space above the tomb of St Kentigern, but each was executed in a different architectural idiom. More importantly, dramatic increases in scale were documented. The solidity and purity of the existing 13th-century cathedral at Glasgow tends to obscure the complex development of the site and to make the subtle traces of the earlier building works seem relatively insignificant. Probably the most surprising result of the excavations was the recovery of a wealth of architectural evidence relating to the pre 13th-century work. Substantial portions of the two cathedrals built successively in the 12th century were discovered.
