The historic Trinity College building has made headlines recently, with Storm Malik causing a threat to the structure and making the building unsafe for neighbours.
Trinity College stretches back to 1856, designed by Charles Wilson and was initially opened as the Free Church College.
In 1843, the Great Disruption saw 450 evangelical ministers break away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland.
The main issue was over whether the Church of Scotland or the British Government had the power to control the churches, and ultimately it was decided that a new organisation would be made.
Three main Free Church seminaries were established; the Free Church of Glasgow, the New College in Edinburgh, and Christ’s Church in Aberdeen.
Many protestors had felt the state was encroaching on the spiritual independence of the church, and stood against the patronage system; which allowed rich landowners to select the local ministers.
This issue was almost settled almost ten years prior, with the Veto Act which declared the heads of families in any church could vote against a pastor.
This was not taken lightly by the other side, and was taken to civil courts and ultimately decided against in 1838.
Led by Dr Thomas Chalmers, over a third of the membership left the Church of Scotland - including nearly all of the Gaelic speaking members and the missionaries, along with most of the Highlanders.
As well as the college buildings, a further 700 new churches were built along with 400 manses.
The leader of the Free Church, Thomas Chalmers, was a professor of theology and a political economist.
In 1815, he became minister of the Tron Church in Glasgow and gained a reputation throughout not just the city, but the whole country.
Thomas pushed for better living conditions in Glasgow, more churches, and adequate educational facilities.
When he became the leader of the Scottish Church in the General Assembly in 1834, Thomas oversaw the construction of 220 new churches.
It came as no surprise when he led the Free Church, and contributed to the creation of what we now know as Trinity College.
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At the time, the Glasgow organisation was ran by both the Free Church of Scotland and the University of Glasgow.
Architect Charles Wilson designed the building, taking inspiration from Italian architecture.
It wasn’t until 1930 that the churches reconvened, and the Glasgow sector was renamed Trinity College.
The Free Church and the Church of Scotland had reunited, and merged their theological teaching facilities.
Notable teachers at the college after 1930 include John Macquarrie, William McKane, and Heather Walton.
In 1976, all archives from the Trinity College were deposited to Glasgow University Library.
The Trinity College buildings at Park Circus were vacated at the same time, with all teaching moved to the university Divinity Facility.
Just this week, high winds are threatening the three towers on the buildings.
A council spokesman said: “The conditions of that had deteriorated to the point where the owner’s contractors and our building standards team thought immediate evacuation was necessary.”
Read more on the Trinity College evacuation below.
