Gallus Glasgow F: the Fossil Grove

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Fossil Grove
Fossil Grove

The Fossil Grove is Glasgow’s most ancient attraction. Tucked away in a corner of Victoria Park, and only open for viewing in the summer, the fossilised tree stumps were discovered in 1887 when an old quarry was being landscaped to create the park. They are the remains of an ancient forest which is around 330 million years old – twice as old as the dinosaurs!

The park, in the west of the city, is one of Glasgow’s prettiest, especially in springtime.  That’s a pure gallus swan, that is.

Victoria Park
Victoria Park
Victoria Park swan

Tomorrow, we visit an area of the city centre with hills on every side.

 

A to Z Challenge 2015, Scotland, UK , ,

56 Comments »

  1. love this, especially as a scottish friend told me about it very recently. i had been raving about the petrified forest on the I40 (was route 66) in arizona and she said glasgow had its very own! i agree they could have make more of it!!
    my husband’s throw away comment to this..’I’ve heard of Possil park…’ LOL

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  3. Ha! I really regret not being able to see more of Glasgow. But I think one week there specifically for a conference isn’t ideal. I definitely have to go back! I would have loved to visit this place.

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    • Thanks, I’ll tell my photographer! Anything half-decent is taken by my husband. He got some great swan pictures in the Lake District last week which will probably appear eventually if I’m not blogged out after this.

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  11. Lovely gardens…I saw dino tracks on vacation and thought they were old! The tracks, like the fossilized tree trunks, are in a protected building. It makes sense for preservation purposes.

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    • Thank you! Glasgow used to have a bad reputation which it’s long outgrown, but some people still believe it. My aim is to tell as many as possible how great it is!

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    • I’ve seen one in Virginia, but it mainly looked like logs on the ground whereas these are still in place as trees. As many commenters have noted, it’s a pity they aren’t displayed more attractively.

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  24. Lovely gardens! It’s too bad the fossilized trees couldn’t be a more natural part of the park. I could envision them in an indoor garden with a glass roof. It’s amazing how old they are.

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  27. Well, they have to be protected but I agree more could be made of them. They are tucked away in a corner of the park and many people don’t know about them. It’s possible the walls have had a lick of paint over the winter, but I can’t confirm that. I did go to take my own photo before I wrote this, but I didn’t realise they weren’t open yet (librarian fail – I should have checked! But to be fair, the website isn’t very helpful anyway.)

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