Glasgow Gallivanting: February 2020

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Glasgow Cathedral

Rain, sleet, rain, hail the size of marbles, rain, howling winds – and did I mention the rain? February has been a terrible month, but there’s no point in sitting at home moping about it so there’s still plenty report. We visited Glasgow Cathedral where, although we’ve been there umpteen times, John always finds new things to snap, such as these grotesques and a poignant memorial which I’ve never noticed before.

Grotesques
In memory of Sundays

The memorial below is to Thomas Hutcheson (1590-1641) who, along with his brother George, bequeathed money to found a hospital for the elderly and a school for poor boys. The school is still operating today, although fee-paying and co-educational, as Hutchesons’ Grammar School. The original Hutchesons’ Hospital was replaced between 1802 and 1805 – this building still exists and now houses a fancy restaurant.

Memorial to Thomas Hutchison
Memorial to Thomas Hutchison

Peter Lowe or Low (c. 1550 – 1610), whose memorial is on the left below, was a surgeon and founder of the institution now known as the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. The image on the right is at the entrance to the churchyard, with the Museum of Religion behind it and two lampposts featuring Glasgow’s Coat of Arms.

Memorial to Dr Peter Low
Churchyard entrance

Some interior shots below include the Martyr’s Memorial which commemorates nine Covenanters executed in Glasgow between 1666 and 1684. Covenanters believed in the Presbyterian form of worship. Scotland wanted to keep its church independent from the English episcopal church headed by the monarch, and this led to a political crisis as signing the Covenant was seen as treason. In the 30 years up to 1690, around 18,000 people died in battles and persecutions.

Martyr’s memorial
Roof boss
Carvings on staircase
Looking up to the roof
Clock
Stained glass

In the two shots below, you can just see at the edges the reason for our visit – a Historic Scotland exhibition called Romantic Scotland through a lens which explores life in 19th century Scotland through HS’s photographic archives (on throughout March).

Nave
Nave

The explanation is here if you want it, but life did not look very romantic to me! Blood, sweat, toil and tears sounds about right.

However, I enjoyed the exhibition – some of my favourite images are below. My great-grandfather would have been a ploughman around the same time as this man, portrayed c1890.

Horses and grubber c1890, unknown
Arnisdale, Inverness-shire, c1898, Erskine Beveridge
Fisherman at Stonehaven, c1890, unknown

Across town at GoMA (Gallery of Modern Art) we visited a couple of good exhibitions this month (both now finished). The thought-provoking Everyday Racism documented ten micro-acts of racism. Though the photographs are staged, the incidents are all true, for example the story of Simone’s hair. It doesn’t matter how “micro” the action, the effect of such depersonalisation can be huge.

Simone’s hair
Simone’s hair

Domestic Bliss explored “domestic labour and feminism, public and private space, intimate relationships and historical narratives”. I liked the faux-domestic setting of some of the exhibits, and the interesting juxtapositions from different periods, such as this bathroom cabinet containing early 20th century shaving mugs by Jessie M King and pefume bottles by Niki de Saint Phalle (1982).

Jessie M King and Niki de Saint Phalle
Jessie M King shaving mugs, early 1900s
Niki de Saint Phalle perfume bottles 1982

Paisley, the town my Mum lives in, is about half an hour’s drive from us. We don’t often act as tourists there, but it’s well worth a wander and we took advantage of that on one of the few dry afternoons of the month. Paisley town centre has the highest concentration of listed buildings anywhere in Scotland outside Edinburgh, plus a great selection of street art, but I’ll keep that for later. Let’s start with churches:

Coats Memorial
Oakshaw Trinity
Paisley Abbey

The Coats Observatory and Paisley Philosophical Institution:

Coats Observatory
Coats Observatory
Paisley Philisophical Institution
Paisley Philisophical Institution and Coats Observatory

The Peter Brough District Nursing Home, now private accommodation:

Peter Brough District Nursing Home
Peter Brough District Nursing Home

Old weavers’ cottages:

Weavers Cottage
Sma’ Shot Cottages

The Town Hall and the Coat of Arms on a nearby bridge:

Paisley Town Hall
Coat of Arms

A selection of statues:

John Witherspoon 1727-1794
Detail of Witherspoon statue
Robert Tannahill 1774-1810
Sir William Dunn Memorial

The recently refurbished Russell Institute:

Russell Institute
Russell Institute

And some faded grandeur to finish. I think the ghost sign on the left says Royal Bank of Scotland. The building on the right is the Paisley Trophy Centre.

Ghost sign – Royal Bank of Scotland?
Paisley Trophy Centre

In February, we went to not just one Window Wanderland, but two. Window Wanderland is a scheme in which communities brighten up winter by transforming their streets into an outdoor gallery. Govan joined in for the first time this year – there were some good windows, but they were very spread out and as it was a cold, wet evening we didn’t explore the whole thing.

Govan Subway
Burleigh Street window
Isabella Elder in Café 101
Nessie
Govan Gals – Mary Barbour

Govan’s buildings looked splendid by night, as did the statue to Mary Barbour, leader of the Rent Strikes in the First World War (you can also spot her in the Govan Gals window above).

Mary Barbour statue
Mary Barbour statue

Another of my sheroes appears in the window gallery – 19th century philanthropist, Isabella Elder “a true woman, a wise benefactress of the public and of learning”. One of the buildings she gave to Govan, Elderpark Library, is in the gallery below. We also visited the early medieval Govan Stones in the Old Parish Church – it was a relief to get out of the cold for a while.

Elderpark Library
Pearce Institute
Govan Old Parish Church
Govan Old Parish Church
Jordanhill Cross
Hogbacks
Sarcophagus
Govan and Linthouse Parish Church
Aitken Memorial Fountain

The second Window Wanderland was in Strathbungo, which we also visited last year. It was an even colder, wetter night, but this was a more compact site so we persevered and saw most of it. Red Riding Hood is my absolute favourite of all the windows we saw over the two events. It’s simple on the surface, but so clever.

There were many, many more: below is a flavour of the ingenuity on show. Some householders even put on performances, and we were very grateful to the lady who came out with a tray of mulled wine. That warmed us up for a while.

I’m running out of time, so on that colourful note I shall wrap up February – here’s hoping for a warmer March!

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67 Comments »

  1. Pingback: Paisley patterns – The Glasgow Gallivanter

  2. Your posts always make me miss Scotland (and wish I’d spent more time in the west while I was living in the UK), and now I’ve added the cathedral and Paisley to my list of must visits when (if) I finally make it back.
    Thank you for sharing your month and city.

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  3. what a fabulous month you had in February, hope March is proving just as colourful, although also hopefully drier. My March seems to be running away from me!

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  4. I remember Window Wanderland from last year! And I love this year’s offerings.

    As I scrolled through them I’d think ‘that’s my new favourite’, until I saw another. There were 2 windows with umbrellas and rain that I particularly liked, in addition to the sunburst across multiple windows. People are SO creative!

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  6. Wow, wow, wow, Anabel! Those window displays are fantastic. And, I agree with you, the one with Red Riding Hood and the wolf is genius. Such art speaks to the heart. 🙂

    Another busy month for you, despite the bad weather. Your mom lives in a beautiful town and I’m glad you found another location of Glasgow’s Coat of Arms.:-) Here’s to a warmer March for you, indeed!

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  8. Anabel, Since I have started following your blog, Scotland is definitely on my travel list. I may choose not to travel in February. Although, like you say, still many areas to visit.

    You remind me how history is often romanticized yet many challenges. You also remind me how interesting it is to be a tourist in a local area. Window Wanderland is a great idea. A huge Wow on “Red Riding Hood.” Yes, clever! Beautiful, colourful and fascinating windows. Thank you for brightening up February!

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  11. Not been to Glasgow since the 1970s but after reading your blog feel like we need to visit. So many fabulous historic buildings and wall to wall Scottish history. Looks fascinating.

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  12. I love the idea of decorating your windows like this. What fun to go around and see them all. I do like Red Riding Hood too. As for hair touching, that is just a tad too personal and creepy for me.

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  13. What an impressive church! It’s sad to think of people who are killed for their religious beliefs, but I guess we haven’t learned much from the past, have we? Thanks for sharing the story and the pics…until I make it to Scotland one day, I really enjoy “visiting” it through your blog!

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  15. Wow, you’ve definitely got up to lots despite of the weather. You put me to shame! The casual racism exhibition looks interesting. Although can I say some years ago ( well I must have been in my twenties, yikes! ) I had my hair all braided in tight braids for about two months. The amount of people who touched my hair without asking, including strangers was phenomenal. Not sure whether it was curiousity at something looking a bit different or pure bad manners in my experience. Also when I was younger and went out alot at weekends guys would be forever patting me on my head and ruffling my hair….like I was the shortest person they had ever seen or something. Made me furious! Drink was probably involved in that though. X

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  17. Wow, I kept seeing pictures that I thought I would to comment on (“lovely Cathedral” “beautiful mugs and perfume bottles”) but as I scrolled, I saw more and more (“love the Art Deco Russell Institute” “lovely fountain”). I think my favorites are the windows, though. That must have been amazing to see in person. I love the Red Riding Hood design. It took me a bit to see the wolf… so clever!

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  19. So much to like about this post I can’t just pick one favourite photo. The square clock, the stained glass window next to it, the coat of arms on the bridge, the Aitken Memorial Fountain (exquisitely pretty) and the Window Wanderland shot on the right of the ‘doggy in the window’ ones (so bright and colourful) – I love all of these 🙂 I hope you manage to get to the next Window Wanderland, I’d love to see more – I wish we had that sort of thing down here.

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    • In all the years I have been visiting the cathedral, the square clock had never caught my eye before. There’s always something new. As for Window Wanderland, you could always start one – just joking! It must be a lot of work. It began in Bristol I think and has spread from there.

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  20. Hi Anabel – as you say above … you have loads of old buildings … wonderful sculptures … loved John’s photos – please thank him! What a full post – with lots of interesting information … fun churches, cathedral sites, Paisley look around … and then the stained glass in various forms – loved them all – cheers Hilary

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  21. Last Thursday into Friday we had a snowstorm and now it has warmed up but rain, rain, rain. I hate the yo-you weather we have been having. I’m glad you braved the weather and went out anyway and showed us some sighted you saw. The one church with those steps(I think they are steps) look moss covered. I love the gargoyles and the look of these churches and history. The windows are great and I love that unique, imaginative window of red Riding Hood. I remember there was an African American who came to our grade school in the small town I went to school in. The kids were fascinated by his hair but they asked permission to touch it and asked questions. I was too scared to ask and thought he would be offended. he didn’t seem to be but this was the 70s after all. One thing, the kids at least asked! To just go and touch his hair is disgusting…the same goes for people who think its alright to touch a woman’s baby bump without asking. I just don’t get that

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    • I am so sick of this weather! Yes, there is moss at the top of the steps – that church is closed now and they are raising money to reopen it as a venue. I find the touching hair awful too, and also saw the comparison to baby bumps. What are people thinking?

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  22. I’m more in awe of your stamina and defiance of the cold and wet. You deserve a gold medal for fortitude in the face of wind and rain. Thanks for doing so and gettihng these lovely photos to us, or thank John for the pix and you for the prose! Just love those windows and if anything would attract me to Glasgow in the winter it would be the windows.
    Incidentally, is there a plaque or anything big in Scotland to Jimmy Reid?

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    • Thanks Mari! There’s another Window Wanderland this coming weekend, but whether we have the stamina for three, I don’t know.

      The only memorial to Jimmy Reid I know of is this one:

      Jimmy Reid

      It’s one of three metal sculptures in Anderston entitled Local Heroes, the others being James Watt and Tom Weir. I do have my own pictures but they’ve never made it online – I have a vague plan for a general post about monuments and memorials, but whether it ever comes to fruition is another thing.

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  23. Never a dull moment, Anabel, and you did manage some blue sky. Never been to Paisley or Glasgow Cathedral so thanks for the lovely images and the smile at Little Hood 🤗💕

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  25. February would not be February if we could not complain about the weather. I’m glad that it did not stop you from exploring. Love the architecture. And the Little Red Riding Window is absolutely stunning!

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  26. Ah, the weather…if it’s any consolation, its been rotten down here in Wiltshire also. Although its certainly a bit warmer than Scotland, I think! Great pictures from Glasgow Cathedral, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit last year. Didn’t spot the Covenanters Memorial though, a shame as it’s an episode of history I enjoyed diving into when we lived up in Edinburgh. Next time, hey?

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  27. Thanks for that! What happened to sundays in 1989? I thought it might be in relation to Sunday Trading laws, but they came in in 1994 according to Wikipedia. Paisley looks nice – never been there!
    Interesting that the weavers’ cottages don’t have big wide windows. In Manchester they all have very wide windows upstairs to let the light in. I would have thought in Scotland they’d need the light even more than Manchester!
    Love that Russell Institute building – I love most Art Deco style architecture – we still have a bit left in Manchester, despite developers’ constant attempts to wipe it all out!

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    • You made me look that up! I assumed it was a memorial to someone who died young and had attended the cathedral. Half right – “A former Sunday School pupil placed the stone in the graveyard, to commemorate time spent in the Cathedral Sunday School.” See https://www.flickr.com/photos/gajtalbot/759582201. I don’t know about the cottages – my sister-in-law once lived in an old weaver’s house in Rochdale, so I know what you mean. Maybe a different type of weaving? If I ever go on a tour (the cottages aren’t open at the moment) I’ll find out.

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  28. What a month of adventures. I’m in awe of how old buildings are in your area, and find there’s a charm to them that comes through in your photos. I’m with you about how life in the distant past doesn’t seem romantic to me. I do like the Corporation of Paisley logo. That is spiffy, catches the eye.

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