place of pilgrimage in the medieval period. Little is known about the early church buildings, except that they would have been of timber and wattle construction. The first stone cathedral was built on high ground above the steep western bank of the Molendinar Burn. Initiated by the decision of David I to establish (or re-establish) a bishopric at Glasgow, the new cathedral was consecrated in 1136 in the presence of David and his court during the episcopate of John Capellanus. Constructed over St Mungo's burial place - a sacred location which may explain the otherwise unusual hillside site - the cathedral rose slowly, not without interruption and recasting, over a period of some 150 years. Excavations at Glasgow Cathedral between 1988 and 1997 uncovered architectural fragments of this first stone cathedral beneath the floor of the present cathedral. The west front of the 1136 cathedral lay at the third pier of the existing nave and its east end included the area of St Mungo's tomb. Following the defeat of Somerled in 1164 at the Battle of Renfrew, Somerled's head was brought to the cathedral. In 1175 Pope Alexander III recognised Glasgow as ‘a special daughter’ of Rome, freeing the diocese from the supremacy of the Archbishop of York. Around the same time Bishop Jocelin was granted a charter by William I to establish Glasgow as a burgh of barony, but with the privileges of a royal burgh. The king attributed the birth of his only son, Alexander, to the intercession of St Mungo. Medieval period Destroyed or severely damaged by fire, the first cathedral was succeeded by the present cathedral, which was consecrated in 1197. Between 1207 and 1232, Bishop Walter Capellanus embarked upon a building programme which saw the completion of the choir and the Lower Church, and provided the basis for the layout of the transepts and nave as eventually built. From 1233 to 1258, Walter's successor, Bishop William de Bondington continued the rebuilding, which included a new, longer, eastern arm to provide a shrine to St Mungo at the main level, and adding three projections (the chapter house, the sacristy/treasury, and what later became the Blacader Aisle). Construction work continued for much of the 13th century, including the central tower and spire, a bell-tower at the north-west corner of the nave (a south-west tower was added in the 14th century). Edward I of England visited the cathedral