Glasgow Gallivanting: January 2022

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Paisley Methodist Central Hall

After a hiatus of several months, I’m back gallivanting! In fact, last week was so busy that I could almost write the whole post about it alone. But first, Paisley where Mum lived. Her house is now gone and I have completed most of the tasks associated with her affairs: for everything left to do, the ball is now in someone else’s court and I am waiting for a response. The photograph above was taken on one of my last visits to the town – I realised I did not have a picture of the church Mum and Dad attended, and where both their funerals were held, so I wanted to put that right.

I was on my way to the solicitor’s office that day, and took the opportunity to walk through Dunn Square where a new monument has recently been erected to the 71 children who died in the Glen Cinema disaster of 1929. A smoking film canister caused a panic and there was a rush to the exit where the metal gates had been shut causing a fatal crush. I’m not sure I like the design, but it was very moving to read the names of all the children which are inscribed around the pedestal. It’s near another memorial, to women who have been murdered by their violent partners, which has featured here before. The plaque is showing signs of wear, but every time I visit it there is a different floral tribute proving that it is well cared for.

Glen Cinema Memorial
Violence against women memorial

So what made last week so active? I went to two events in real life, two virtual events, met a friend for coffee, and at the weekend we had a whole day out that wasn’t in Glasgow. It almost felt that life was back to normal. Our outing was to Linlithgow in West Lothian. Linlithgow Palace is famous as the birth place of Mary, Queen of Scots but, like many Historic Scotland properties, it’s currently closed while they check the stonework. It’s still possible to walk round the loch and view the palace, and the adjacent St Michael’s Church, from the outside.

Linlithgow Palace
Graveyard, St Michael’s Church
Doorway, St Michael’s Church
Oriel window, St Michael’s Church
Linlithgow Palace and St Michael’s from across the loch

We spotted many other interesting buildings and decorations on our stroll around the town. The flowers on the bench at the end of the gallery looked very fresh, and when I checked the plaque I realised why: it was the commemorated person’s birthday.

Katie wearie sundial
Katie Wearie sundial
High Street building
St Peter’s Scottish Episcopal Church
Decorative wall art
Monument to James Stewart, Earl of Moray
Kirkgate
Memorial bench

Controversial these days is the Black Bitch pub. It does sound like an offensive name and the current owner, Greene King, has announced plans to change it, prompting a local outcry. The black bitch in question is a dog which has featured on the town’s coat of arms for centuries, the result of a medieval legend about a criminal who was sentenced to starve to death on an island in the loch. His dog swam out each day with food for him, and when this was discovered she was chained to a tree on a different island and left to suffer the same fate as her master. The townspeople admired the animal’s loyalty and bravery and adopted her as their mascot: only a couple of years ago a statue was unveiled to her. I remember being utterly shocked by the name when I first visited Linlithgow 40 years ago, before I knew its history. I can’t remember how obvious it was then, but you can see from the images below that these days the pub makes it quite clear that the words refer to a dog. However, times change, language moves on, and I think it might be time to give up the name – though by all accounts, Greene King has gone about it in a very cack-handed way without taking local opinion into account.

Black Bitch pub sign
Black Bitch pub
Black Bitch
Black Bitch statue

On our way home from Linlithgow, we stopped off at the entirely uncontroversial Beecraigs Country Park and had a walk round its Loch before it got too dark. I liked the trees (or, rather, the one twin-trunked tree) stuck in the middle of the path.

Beecraigs Country Park
Beecraigs Loch

In January, we are usually frantically busy with Celtic Connections concerts. Last year was all online, but this year was meant to be entirely live. Unfortunately, the Omicron variant scuppered some of those plans, and restrictions on the number of people allowed to attend an event meant concerts during the first week had to be postponed or cancelled. So we have two to look forward to in May / June, and on Sunday we attended the first of our three bookings which are going ahead. We went out for dinner beforehand and it felt just like old times. Will this improvement continue into February? Fingers crossed!

Scotland, UK , , ,

78 Comments »

  1. Glad to see you’re out and about again Anabel – it must feel wonderful after all this time. As ever I enjoy reading the stories of the places you visit as well as seeing your photos. I feel very very sad about the poor dog though – I do hope it is apocryphal but guess one will never know. Perhaps give her a prettier name??

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  2. The Omicron variant did not scupper any of your plans, the Scottish government’s panicking over an extremely mild variant of a cold virus scuppered your plans. Let’s put the record straight on that. Good article aside from that though 👍

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  3. Good to see you back out gallivanting Anabel.
    After watching Celtic Connections online last year we were keen to attend some of the live events this year, but, ended up deciding not to book due to uncertainty with Covid but also with the trains with the upgrade to the West Coast main line taking place and the possibility that we might end up having to take a “rail replacement service” (three of the most fearsome words in the English language, those are). I was also restricted on what dates were possible due to work commitments. But I hope all three problems will be done with by next year so fingers crossed I make it up to Glasgow next year. And perhaps, as a bonus, I’ll even have a chance to meet the Gallivanter in person!

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    • That would be great! And if you come up for any other reason, eg work-related, let me know too. As for this year, you definitely made the right decision. If you’d booked anything at the beginning it certainly would not have happened, and there are still a lot of gaps in the schedule with concerts not going ahead. We’ve been lucky with 3 out of 5 still on, and the others postponed rather than cancelled. We were at our second concert last night and have our final one on Sunday. It feels good!

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  5. The story of the black bitch is so sad, for both owner and dog. And yes, people don’t refer to female dogs as bitches often these days, so it’s easy to see why people who find the name offensive. Modern language and old language don’t always match up. I’m so glad your outing is still on, and hopeful that the worst of the pandemic is behind us. Lord knows we can’t live like this forever!

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  6. I like the name of the black doggie and “bitch” is used in dog terms. I think people need to settle down a bit and think about history. I am glad you were able to take some pictures and showcase some key events like your parents and the disaster with the kids.

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  7. Happy to hear you’ve resumed your gallivanting! I do like the dog statue, though the name is a bit iffy. The worst part is the way they killed the poor dog though! They admired her enough to make her a mascot, but she still had to die?!

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  8. Hi Anabel – it is so much better we can get out and about with relative freedom – we’re still being careful down here. Fascinating to see Linlithgow Palace … with lots of Scottish history involved: interesting. So pleased to see all the ‘out and about’ pics – cheers Hilary

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  9. Gosh, you certainly are back! I went to the theatre (Gangsta Granny) with my niece and great-niece – both birthday presents from me. Masked up was required, but I reckon I’ll mask up in public spaces (especially where kids are around) for a good while yet.
    Tonight I am going to the local Gardening Club for the first time. I know how to live it up!
    As for the pub name… I think local legends should be kept going. Would the Linlithgow Bitch be too much of a mouthful? Linlithgow Canine Female???
    Jemima

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  12. Glad you are back to gallivanting and having some near-normal experiences. Exquisite photos. The trees are striking, and how odd they’ve kept the ones growing up in the middle of the path.

    Extraordinary tale about the dog and master – and how cruel their fate. Now that there’s a monument, and it is labeled Black Bitch, too, doesn’t seem there should be any reason to change the name of the pub. I do think the PC thing gets out of hand at times.

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  13. Glad you are back out again. Linlithgow and that walk around the loch is a cracker. Talking of cancel culture I did notice a lot of period black and white classic films, most very innocuous, like ‘Brief Encounter’ say, now carry an intro warning along the lines of ‘some people may be offended by the opinions and attitudes reflected in this film.’ I’m glad I have box sets from ten years ago or earlier to watch as some of the recent output of the BBC in particular bends over so much to include every minority and diversity ( as long as it does not originate from an ordinary working class background of course) that it’s unwatchable. Mainly because the BBC’s new ‘inclusiveness’ in every programme is so obvious and clumsily done, it,in itself, feels like a form of deliberate brainwashing of the uncultured masses every five minutes. As in ‘this is ‘how you should think about this subject.’ It’s a different planet! I don’t tend to have strong options either way except to resist being moulded into a clone and being instructed this is how I should view things and the world I live in. That I will resist 🙂

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    • As I have more or less given up on films and TV, this has passed me by! I don’t really like these buzz words such as cancel culture, woke etc, they just seem like pejorative euphemisms for what is a good thing: being inclusive and not insulting people.

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  14. Ah Normality – a lovely situation. Perhaps one fine day ( if such things still exist) it would be nice if the fine lady were to visit us. I did hear that you have had some wild weather in parts of Scotland recently. Perhaps Mother Nature is being democratic and sharing the misery around :o) Anyway, it really is good to have you back again and in case I never mentioned it before, I spent a lot of time in the old Cotton Street, in the day of John M. Bannerman.

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  16. I’m glad that things are feeling more normal for you and that you are getting out and about. I’m not sure how I feel about the pub name. I wonder if it was controversial from the start but a more socially acceptable play on words (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), or was it completely normal at that time to refer to dogs as “bitches.” I assume the “Black” part of the name was purely a reference to the dog’s color at the time. Either way, I can see why some would prefer that it was changed.

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    • I don’t know when bitch moved from being purely a female dog to become an insult, or whether the pub predates it (it’s supposed to be one of Scotland’s oldest). I think the whole phrase just instantly sounds like something else now. Black Hound has been proposed and rejected – they might be better going for something completely different.

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  17. What an extraordinary story about the dog, Anabel! It’s a shame they didn’t call the pub by the dog’s name. Glad you’re out and about again, hon. Nothing’s instant, but you’ll get there.

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  18. I am pleased to see you gallivanting again. 🙂
    Love love the trees in your photo. Very striking.
    That’s so sad that so many people perished in a cinema fire. What a horrible tragedy.
    If the Black Bitch pubs name has to change, does the statues too? It’s a shame as I’m sure most sensible people would see that the pub sign is definitely referring to a female dog. I wonder what the dogs actual name was? X

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  19. Ah signs of normality, it makes such a difference doesn’t it 🙂

    Here’s to its continuance and also to more five letter words in three or less!!!

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  21. A great post from a great month! I’d not heard of the cinema disaster or the pub, so shall look at both. Hopefully if the name is changed, and i suppose times move on, the signage etc might be preserved somewhere?

    Like you I had a feeling of being almost back to normal this week, with a trip to Ikea of all places! It’s lovely to finally feel that way though, long may it last.

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  23. It sounds like you had a busy week last week and it’s good that things are gradually getting back to normal. I like the church sandwiched between the two much larger buildings, and the dog statue reminds me of the one of naval dog Just Nuisance in Simonstown, SA 🙂

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  26. I’m glad things seem to be returning to somewhat normal for you both. Sigh! It’s been a long time coming.

    I think the issue of names being offensive in this day and age is a tricky one… On one hand, there is so much to consider to be “politically correct” and those names have history, but on the other hand you don’t want to offend anyone, of course…

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  27. Glad to read that things are returning to something more like normal life and that you are managing to move on with your life. Having stuff to do with your Mum’s estate will help I think as it keeps the memory alive as you do things for her and in her name. Loved your new pictures, glad to see the lad with the camera is back in business!

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