There’s nothing much to see at Maryhill Old Parish Church Burial Ground, and I only have this one image taken by poking my phone through the firmly padlocked gates. However, I like the story behind the founding of the church, so here it is!
Maryhill’s original Parish Church was built in 1826 on land donated by Lilias Graham, owner of the Gairbraid Estate and daughter of Mary Hill who gave her name to the whole area. Lilias’s involvement did not end there – once the church was completed, the next step was to choose a minister. There were three candidates and those who rented a pew voted for their choice. There was a favourite, Mr McNaught, but Lilias preferred Mr Wilson. Her solution? She rented every unlet pew and Mr Wilson was declared elected on 29th June, 1826.
Lilias is described as a clever, good woman and kind, generous and hospitable – but also certainly without personal attractions. She frequently entertained friends with dinners of the more substantial kind, and after the food had been cleared she would make up a rum punch. Her guests often left rather the worse for wear, and on one occasion a gentlemen of not too good a reputation stood to his feet and cried “Come Miss Graham, I will give you a toast – honest men and bonnie lasses”. The prompt reply was “Very well, but that is neither you nor me!” Paradoxically, she and her nephew, John Dunlop, set up the first British temperance societies in Greenock and Maryhill in 1829. Do as I say, not as I do?
Back to the church: Maryhill Old had a chequered history, well described by Diana Burns on the Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society webpage. By 1985, it was abandoned and unsafe, and around the turn of the century it was demolished. All that remains is this sad little graveyard on Maryhill Road, neglected and unkempt.
I’m sure Lilias would be distinctly unimpressed. She herself is buried in the grander surroundings of Glasgow Cathedral’s graveyard along with her father, Robert Graham, her mother, Mary Hill, and other members of the Graham family. The tombstone is very worn, but you might just be able to make out Lilias’s name in the close up.
Tombstone for the Graham family
Inscription for Mary Hill and Lilias Graham
And that’s the end of this short series, Graveyards of Glasgow, at least until I visit a few more burial grounds. I hope you’ve enjoyed it – it’s good to finish with a feisty woman who took no nonsense.
Many of you liked the photos I posted of the two Window Wanderlands we attended in February, so I thought I’d start with more of the same – Window Wanderland Part 3! As with the other events, Maryhill’s took place on a wet, cold night, but the colourful displays cheered us up. I think cheering up is what we all need at the moment, with so much closed down because of the coronavirus, COVID-19, so I’m going to show you lots and lots of windows and gardens in this post.
The top image has a musical theme with The Beatle’s Yellow Submarine on one side and Pink Floyd’s The Wall on the other. The Beatles cropped up again with Norwegian Wood, which included the song itself playing, one of two windows we found with sound effects. Round the corner, this seascape was accompanied by the sound of rushing waves.
Norwegian Wood
Norwegian Wood
Seascape
The Wanderland took place on the eve of International Women’s Day (8th March) so we appreciated that one household had chosen to celebrate this. The nearby Be Kind message is also very relevant today.
International Women’s Day window
Be Kind
Here’s a great big gallery for your delectation!
Friends of Maryhill Park
Finally, one householder had set up a cinema in his back garden, complete with popcorn and – because the film was Whisky Galore – a wee dram.
Whisky Galore
Back garden cinema
Stank Glen
Ben Ledi from Stank Glen
The last weekend before everything started to shut down was amazingly dry, and we got a couple of outings. A circular route took us up the forested Stank Glen, above Loch Lubnaig, and in the shadow of Ben Ledi. Dry it might have been but, after all the rain we have had, some of the paths were like small streams, and crossing the actual streams was tricky because any stepping stones, natural or otherwise, were submerged. Cue wet feet!
Stank Glen
Stank Glen
Stank Glen
Stank Glen
Stank Glen
Stank Glen
Stank Glen
Stank Glen
Snowdrops
That same weekend, we visited a couple of the gardens advertising snowdrops through Scotland’s Gardens Scheme. It was right at the end of the snowdrop season, and not much else was out, but it got us into the fresh air again at a troubling time.
Kilbryde Castle has been home to the Campbell family since 1659. The current owners, Sir James and Lady (Carola) Campbell were out gardening when we arrived and greeted us from a safe distance. We had a rather slithery, muddy walk round the property.
Kilbryde Castle
Kilbryde Castle
Kilbryde Castle
Kilbryde Castle
Kilbryde Castle
Kilbryde Castle
Kilbryde Castle
Kilbryde Castle
Kilbryde Castle
Kilbryde Castle
Kilbryde Castle
We dropped into nearby Dunblane for lunch. The restaurant we chose, Allanview, had just opened the week before. What an unfortunate time to start a new venture: I feel so sorry for the owners. The food was excellent, but now they will have had to close like every restaurant in the country.
Things we noticed in Dunblane: I’ve posted Andy Murray’s gold post-box before (all home-grown 2012 Olympic gold medallists got one in their home town), but not since it had a plaque celebrating his special stamps, and I don’t remember his Wimbledon bench either.
Andy Murray postbox
Andy Murray postbox
Andy Murray bench
We loved this quirky signpost.
Quirky signpost
Quirky signpost
And we also loved the mosaics decorating the bridge over the Allan Water.
Allan Water
Mosaic on bridge over Allan Water
Finally, on our way back to the car we spotted a ghost sign. This house is called The Old Bakery, and the ghost sign tells us why – Tea Room.
The Old Bakery
Ghost sign on The Old Bakery
From Dunblane, we drove to our second garden of the day, Braco Castle. The oldest part of this house dates from before 1600, a rectangular tower built by the 3rd Earl of Montrose for his son, William Graham. It has been owned and adapted by several families since – judging by the surname, the current owners might be Dutch.
Braco Castle
The gardens were more elaborate here than at Kilbryde – still not much out, but there was more colour than just snowdrops.
Crest over doorway
Sculptures in grass park
Ornamental pond
Ornamental parapet
John in 19C garden
View to the hills
Blooming marvellous
Blooming marvellous
Burn
Anabel on old tennis court
Blooming marvellous
Blooming marvellous
Sundial on old tennis court
The last bit
Drymen Lunch Club
Gallus article
I gave my talk, Jessie Stephen: Scottish Suffragette, to the Drymen Lunch Club – the last talk for some time, and the first one to actually have my name on a ticket! I quite liked that. I also saw my talk in print for the first time in Gallus, the journal of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society, who hosted me back in September. They have made a clever acronym out of Gallus – Glasgow Ancestry Links the Life of Us. I’ve explained gallus before: in fact five years ago I did a whole A to Z Challenge on Gallus Glasgow – here’s the explanation if you don’t know what it means.
The week before Glasgow Women’s Library closed down (though we didn’t know that at the time) we had a tea party to say goodbye to one of my fellow volunteers, Eleanor, who is moving to Berkshire to live nearer her son. We’ll miss her – that’s Eleanor in the middle with me and Anna. The three of us comprised the Thursday morning cataloguing team.
As you might expect, all of these events took place in the first part of March before life changed utterly. I don’t expect anything worth writing about to happen between now and the end of the month so I’m clearing the decks and publishing early. We can still walk outside, and we’re lucky to live near a river and a canal – however, the banks are quite narrow and it’s hard to keep the recommended 2m distance from passers by. At least the weather is now dry. To illustrate the difference, here are two pictures taken across the Kelvin in February and March. In the first, the little seating area is completely flooded. In the second, the river has retreated to its natural level.
River Kelvin Feb 2020
River Kelvin Mar 2020
COVID-19 is already spawning its own art. Street artist Rebel Bear, who has featured here several times before, has contributed this mural on Bank Street.
And Twitter, which can be an absolute cesspit sometimes, has the lovely hashtag #COVIDCeilidh in which traditional musicians post videos of themselves performing to create an online ceilidh (a social event with Scottish or Irish folk music and singing, traditional dancing, and storytelling). You don’t have to be on Twitter to see it, just clink my link above. Here’s one of my favourites so far, Anna Massie of Blazin’ Fiddles, a band we’ve seen a few times, accompanied by her mum on the spoons. Watch for the head movements at the end!
As it’s Mother’s Day, and I’m lucky enough to be hanging out with my mum today, we thought we’d contribute a bonny old Swedish tune to the Sunday Smorgasbord. #COVIDCeilidhpic.twitter.com/KAuoP3hhnY
Will there be another Gallivanting post when I can’t gallivant? At the moment I haven’t a scooby*, but at least I have plenty of backlog to keep up with, and I’m thinking of joining Becky’s latest Squares challenge in April, SquareTops, hopefully with a travel theme. Virtual travel is the best we can do at the moment.
*I’ve already had two Scottish words in this post, but Scooby is my actual Scottish word of the month – I didn’t realise it was Scottish, but it’s in my book 100 favourite Scots words so it must be! It means I haven’t a clue and is rhyming slang for the cartoon character, Scooby Doo. First found in print in the Glasgow Herald in 1993 apparently!
Stay safe everyone. As we practice social distancing, or self-isolate, our online buddies are even more important. Till the next time.
The photograph above was actually taken on 31st August and so, strictly speaking, should have been in August’s Gallivanting post. However I’d already published it by then so – my blog, my rules – here it is in September’s. Glasgow Women’s Library held a quiz night (dress code green, white and purple) with all the questions based on women’s achievements. Our team of library volunteers, The Book Besoms, didn’t win, but we weren’t last either. The librarian’s secret is not that she knows lots of stuff, but that she knows how to look it up – which, unaccountably, wasn’t allowed. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!
An East End walk
St Mary’s, Calton
I had already been to a meeting in GWL that day and didn’t have time to go home and back so, given that the sun was shining, I decided to go for a walk and return for the quiz later. From the library’s home in Bridgeton, I headed along Abercromby Street, passing the church above, before turning west along Gallowgate towards the city centre. In Graham Square are the remnants of the old Meat Market which I thought were an interesting example of façadery. Usually modern flats are built directly onto an old façade. This one sits out in front attached by struts. Bizarre!
Old Meat Market
Old Meat Market
Calf by Kenny Hunter
I continued to High Street and its junction with my end destination: George Street, and the latest gable-end mural by Smug depicting an infant St Mungo (Glasgow’s patron saint) with his mother St Enoch. Opposite is a nice garden area with benches bearing the city’s motto, Let Glasgow Flourish.
St Mungo and St Enoch
George Street Garden
Opposite that is another garden, Greyfriars, built on the site of a 15th century friary. It wasn’t open, but I could peer through the fence and admire the poetry and other plaques adorning it. The one in the gallery below is Glasgow’s coat of arms.
Greyfriars Garden
Greyfriars Garden fence
Glasgow Coat of Arms
Walking back down High Street to Glasgow Cross, I then headed east again along London Road passing the corner of Charlotte Street, where number 52 is the last remaining of eight late-18th century villas, and another colourful gable-end.
52 Charlotte Street
London Rd street art
From there, I cut through Glasgow Green, admiring my old friends the People’s Palace and the Doulton Fountain.
People’s Palace
Doulton Fountain
Almost back at the library – the two buildings below on Greenhead Street were both once schools. The white building was built as a private residence in 1846 before becoming a school for destitute boys, the Buchanan Institute, in 1859. The extension on the left with the scholarly boy was added in 1873. The red sandstone building educated girls between 1893 and 1936 as the Logan & Johnson School of Domestic Economy. If you zoom in on the sculpture underneath the middle chimney you will see that it is a beehive representing the industry of the girls within. Both buildings are now converted to flats.
Buchanan House
Logan & Johnson School of Domestic Economy
Doors Open Day
Glasgow’s Doors Open Days go on for a whole week, but I only managed to take part on the Saturday – and that was mostly as a provider. I led a canal walk and a building tour at Maryhill Burgh Halls, then just had time to dash across the road to The Engine Works. As Clarkson’s, and later Craig and Buchanan, this was an engineering workshop right into the 21st century. It figures in one of the Halls’ stained glass windows showing the trades of Maryhill – you can see what is probably Mr Clarkson in the green coat bottom left in our sale of postcards and in a poster on the Engine Works’ walls.
Maryhill postcards
Engine Works posters
As I’ve led people on walks along the canal, which runs behind the Works, I’ve watched restoration taking place and assumed it was to be more flats. But no, a young couple has bought it to turn into a combined office / events space. I was delighted to get a chance to see what progress they have made, and to find out that they are keeping the electrically powered crane designed by Sir Henry Royce of Rolls-Royce fame. It’s going to be an amazing space when it’s finished.
Craig & Buchanan poster
Engine Works
Royce crane
Royce crane
Royce crane
The nights are fair drawing in
We’ve passed the autumn equinox and the nights are fair drawing in, as we say in these parts. Time to think of booking tickets for indoor events! This month’s highlights were Garbage at the iconic Barrowland and a one-man play about Charles Rennie Mackintosh at the equally iconic Panopticon.
Shirley Manson
Britannia Panopticon
Britannia Panopticon
Women’s history
You might remember Jessie Stephen, the Suffragette I am promoting this year. Two developments this month: I discovered you could buy a Jessie mug as part of a set produced in Bristol, the city where she spent the latter part of her life.
Even more exciting – I knew that Jessie took part in the post-box protests in Glasgow in 1913 (Suffragettes dropped ink or acid into post-boxes to destroy the mail). I’d read that this was in Kirklee, near where I live, but hadn’t given it much thought until I was asked if I knew which post-box it might have been. I now have access to a copy of Jessie’s unpublished autobiography in which she details some of the houses she worked in as a domestic servant, and one of them is just across the road from the current Kirklee post-box. When I looked at this box more closely, I found the insignia was ERVII – Edward the Seventh who died in 1910. This is probably the very box that Jessie used!
I also attended a really interesting exhibition at my local library on women of the West End (of Glasgow) in the First World War. Institutions that you wouldn’t necessarily expect to shed light on this did so. For example, application forms from women to join the Arlington Baths Club showed they had moved into male occupations when the men were away fighting. The red costume is what they would have swum in – ugh! I’m surprised they managed to stay afloat.
The last bit
St Mungo
Spirit of St Kentigern
Back to St Mungo, aka St Kentigern, Glasgow’s patron saint. I’d read that a new statue of him was in place at City of Glasgow College’s City campus, and made a short detour to inspect it the other day. The campus has recently been rebuilt and its location, Cathedral Street, makes the addition particularly apt. It’s a very traditional statue, created by former stonemasonry student, Roddy McDowall.
Nearby on campus is another sculpture, Spirit of St Kentigern, which is very different in style. It represents the bird in one of Mungo’s four miracles (I think). Commissioned from Dundee art student Neil Livingstone as part of the pedestrianisation of much of the city centre, this stood on Buchanan Street from 1977 until 2000 when it was deemed no longer in keeping with the city’s image. It’s now been hauled out of storage and loaned to the College. It’s definitely dated, it says “1970s” very strongly to me, but I also think the new statue is rather too traditional to be entirely successful. What do others think?
Finally, to Scottish word of the month: remember The Book Besoms? A besom is a broom made of twigs tied round a stick, but in Scotland the word often refers to a woman with attitude – one might be called a cheeky wee besom, for example. That’s what we chose for our GWL quiz team name, but having checked the definition just now I see it originally referred to a woman of “loose character”. With the other connotations of broomsticks, and therefore witches, maybe I’ll make a different choice next time!
The Forth and Clyde Canal runs very close to our house and we love it for a Sunday afternoon stroll. We have three choices – east, west or the spur that runs into the city centre. I’ve already written about the spur (here) so this post will cover the east and west walks we took in November. Now, you will probably guess that the photograph above does not show Glasgow in November! That was in June, but it’s the only time I’ve ever seen boats going through any of the canal locks so I wanted to include it.
Let’s walk east first. We join the canal at Maryhill where there used to be interesting, if not infamous, buildings above its banks such as the Glasgow Magdalene Institution for the Repression of Vice and Reformation of Penitent Females. Yes, really! Shockingly, this only closed in the late 1950s after a number of inmates escaped, leading to an investigation into their (mis)treatment. Today, the site is covered in houses with a golf course on the other bank, so nothing very picturesque. The camera only comes out when we reach Lambhill Stables.
Lambhill Stables
Lambhill Stables
Lambhill Stables
The Stables were built around 1830 when horses pulling barges were the main means of moving goods along the canal. Today they have been restored as a community facility with a café, heritage displays and a garden. The Stables are closed on Sundays, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see. First, there is the memorial to the Cadder Pit Disaster of 1913.
Cadder Pit Disaster Memorial
Cadder Pit Disaster Memorial
A stroll round the garden results in some unexpected sightings. A robot in Lambhill!
Lambhill Stables Gardens
Lambhill Stables Gardens
Lambhill Stables Gardens
Lambhill Stables Gardens
Lambhill Stables Gardens
Lambhill Stables Gardens
Through a gap in the hedge at the back there are good views towards Possil Loch and the Campsie Fells.
Possil Loch
Campsie Fells
Back on the canal towpath, we walk a little further then turn into Possil Marsh and Loch nature reserve – though there is so much marsh that we don’t actually see the loch again, as the track can only go round the very edge of the site. We do see, through another hedge gap, the splendid entrance (James Sellars, 1881) to Lambhill Cemetery and the plaque to commemorate the Possil High Meteorite which fell nearby in 1804. (This photo is a cheat, taken from an earlier walk. I couldn’t make the writing on the plaque legible, even in close-up, so I thought you might as well have a long view with the bonus of John).
Lambhill Cemetery Gates
Possil Meteorite Plaque
It gets dark very early in winter, and the sun was setting as we walked back home.
Forth and Clyde Canal at dusk
Forth and Clyde Canal at dusk
Forth and Clyde Canal at dusk
A couple of weekends later, we set off west to walk another section of canal. Once again, it’s quite built up but there are times when you can pretend you are in the country. Not when you see a Saltire-painted tarpaulin and Nessie on the opposite bank though! And a curious cat who probably has as little idea about what is going on as we do.
It’s also easy to link up a canal walk with the River Kelvin Walkway. Here’s one we did in October, taking in the Botanic Gardens and its Arboretum.
Forth and Clyde Canal at Anniesland
Maryhill Locks
Arboretum
Arboretum
Arboretum
Heron on the Kelvin
Kelvinbridge
Glasgow Botanic Gardens
Finally, you never know what you might come across on the canal. One of my volunteer “jobs” is leading walks from Maryhill Health Centre (aimed, for example, at people giving up smoking or finishing physiotherapy) and sometimes we have pop-up artists. Below, you can see members of the delightful Joyous Choir living up to their name and a small ceilidh band. Shortly after this picture was taken we danced The Gay Gordons up and down the towpath which prompted a certain amount of curious windae-hingin’ (hanging out of windows) on the adjacent Maryhill Road. It was fun!
Joyous Choir
Ceilidh on the canal
This post seems to have got out of hand and strayed away from the original east-west walk! I kept thinking of more to add. Expect more rag-bag posts in the New Year as I clear out photos and ideas that didn’t get used in 2016. Linking this one to Jo’s Monday Walks. Her latest is about Roker Beach and Park where I spent many happy hours as a child.
I’ve often walked past this building and spotted the red banner on the brick wall in the first photograph below. Recently, I walked round the other side to see what else was there. A valiant attempt has been made to cheer up this rather run-down former school which is now being used as a community hub. I don’t think there are any tigers locally, but the buildings in the final two photographs are recognisably Glasgow. The one I’ve highlighted is the Armadillo, which also featured in last year’s challenge.
The Hub, Wyndford
The Hub, Wyndford
The Hub, Wyndford
The Hub, Wyndford
The Hub, Wyndford
The Hub, Wyndford
The Hub, Wyndford
The Hub, Wyndford
Gallery 3: Maryhill Locks
These railings run between the canal and the road at Maryhill Locks. They were designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows and made and installed by the Maryhill fabrication company Scott Associates. I couldn’t decide which I liked best, so have included them all! They tell the history of Maryhill and the industries which grew up along the canal.
Railings designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows
Railings designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows
Railings designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows
Railings designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows
Railings designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows
Railings designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows
Railings designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows
Railings designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows
Railings designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows
Railings designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows
Railings designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows
Railings designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows
Railings designed by Catherine Rozdoba-Hallows
I hope you’ve enjoyed a peek at this area of Glasgow which doesn’t normally feature on the tourist trail.
Today is the day when many of my blogging friends are revealing their A to Z Challenge themes. I had a brilliant idea for a theme, based on the success of last year’s Gallus Glasgow. (Actually, what I mean is that pal Helen MacKinven had the brilliant idea for me. Check out her site if you want to see a poodle in pink shades.) People make Glasgow is the city’s current marketing slogan, and the idea was to choose some of the city’s historical figures to show how they still influence Glasgow today. The downside is that I left the research too late and had too many letters missing, so it’s going to appear as an occasional series instead. This is the first.
One way of influencing a city is to have part of it named after you – impressive! Mary Hill (1730-1809) and her husband, Robert Graham, inherited the Gairbraid Estate because Mary’s father, Hew Hill, had no male heirs. Mary and Robert ran into money troubles after speculating in coal-mining, but their big break came when parliament approved the planning of the route of the Forth & Clyde Canal in 1768, which went through the estate. They were compensated for this and once the canal was completed, around 1790, their land along the canal suddenly became much more valuable and they sold it with the condition that if a town was to develop in the area it would be named after Mary.
Maryhill became a burgh in 1856 and was incorporated into the City of Glasgow in 1891. Its Burgh Halls were built in 1878, fell into disrepair in the 1960s and were rescued and reopened in 2012. A major factor in raising money for the refurbishment was the stained glass – 20 panels featuring the small industries and factories in 1870s Maryhill. Normally, stained glass is seen in churches and palaces, so I think it was visionary for the time to create windows showing ordinary people in their ordinary working clothes going about their daily tasks.
Iron moulders and calico printers
I live very close to Maryhill, and since last autumn I’ve been volunteering as a Heritage Tour Guide at the Burgh Halls, on both the general tour and the Women of Maryhill tour which I’ve researched and developed myself. I graduated in history a very long time ago and I’m really enjoying being able to put that to use in retirement. You can see me (red stripey jumper) at the tour launch below …
Women of Maryhill tour launch
Women of Maryhill tour launch
… and enjoying tea and scones with some of the participants after the most recent tour on Saturday.
Tea party at Maryhill Halls
Scones
If you’re in and around Glasgow, keep an eye on the Maryhill Burgh Halls website for news of more tours and events.
The Forth and Clyde Canal, which runs sea-to-sea between the two rivers, has passed through Glasgow since the eighteenth century, though it ceased to be navigable in 1963. However, the multi-million Millennium Link Project saw it reopen in 2000/2001. Inspired by the Maryhill Walking Trails and Glasgow’s Canals Unlocked booklets, we set off on Sunday to walk from home to the end of the spur leading into the city centre. There is still some dereliction alongside the banks, but there is also green space and some (for Glasgow) quite exotic-looking new housing. The booklets helped us imagine how the canal would have been in years gone by, with a multitude of industries using its waters: iron, lead, rubber, oil, glass and timber were all produced here.
We joined the canal at the nearest point to our house at Kelvindale. The photos will guide you along the same route that we took.
Soon after joining the canal, we reached our first aqueduct. The rest crossed roads, but this one straddled the Kelvin. The disused piers in the river once carried railway lines across it.
River Kelvin from the aqueduct
Next, we reached Maryhill Locks –
Maryhill Locks
– and not long after that, we left the towpath temporarily to visit Maryhill Burgh Halls for a delicious lunch at the Clean Plates Café. When opened in 1878, the halls had 20 stained glass panels depicting the trades then carried out in Maryhill, and eleven of the panels are now back on display. The walks booklets point out where the scenes from the stained glass might have taken place. More modern is this panel showing the different trades’ badges.
Maryhill Trades
Back on the canal, we soon reached Murano Street Student Village, site of a former glassworks. Apparently, Maryhill was once called the Venice of Glasgow on the grounds that it had a canal and a glassworks named after the famous Murano works. I wasn’t entirely convinced, but we’d already passed the Mondrian Flats which looked very European to me, so I was beginning to wonder if we really were still in Glasgow.
Mondrian Flats
We took another detour at Firhill up a steep path to the flag pole atop Ruchill Park. From here, Glasgow University dominated the view. Nearby, the 165-foot high water tower (1892) is almost all that now remains of Ruchill Infectious Diseases Hospital.
Glasgow University from Ruchill ParkRuchill Water Tower
Continuing along the banks, the University remained prominent and we met several swans.
Glasgow University from the canalOne swan!Two swans!
We passed Firhill, home of Glasgow’s other football club (i.e. the one that’s not Celtic or Rangers), Partick Thistle, commonly known as the Jags.
The Jags!
The picturesque Applecross Workshops are probably the oldest remaining buildings on any canal in Scotland.
Applecross Workshops
Spiers Wharf, formerly mills and a sugar refinery, was converted into flats in the 1990s. The blue painted shop front is Ocho where we stopped for a coffee.
Spiers WharfOcho at Spiers Wharf
Just after this, the canal spur ends in a huge construction site which will soon be Pinkston Paddlesports Centre. After having a look at that, we retraced our steps to Spiers Wharf and took the path down to Cowcaddens from where we could get the Subway home. The underpass here is decorated with 50 Phoenix Flowers, called after the former Phoenix Park which was destroyed to create the M8 motorway above.
Phoenix Flowers
Before leaving Cowcaddens, we took some photographs of Dundas Court, formerly Dundas Vale College and before that the Normal School for the Training of Teachers (1837), a precursor of Jordanhill College where I worked for over 20 years. It’s now offices.
Dundas Court
An urban walk can be just as enjoyable as a country walk – I feel I learned a lot about my home city on this one.
We’ve lived in our present house for nearly twenty years, and every time we leave it we pass this at the end of the road, yet we’ve never been in:
Doors Open Day seemed a good chance to rectify this so we visited on Saturday morning. The Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre has existed since 1981 and has been in its current premises (an old council cleansing depot) since 1989. It’s a lot more attractive inside than it looks from the outside! They do puppet shows, birthday parties, workshops with schools, exhibitions, training and much more – check the website for details. We met founder Malcolm Knight, manager Sarah Lee and Ken Barnard who, at 90 years old, is still carving marionettes in the workshop. Definitely worth a visit, especially for those with small children.
The Theatre and the masks on its walls:
The Café and exhibition area:
In the workshops:
After this, it was on to Maryhill Burgh Halls, which I blogged about on an earlier visit. This time they had special events on for Doors Open Day and we went to a talk by Alec Galloway on the stained glass, old and new. When opened in 1878, the halls had 20 stained glass panels by Stephen Adam, depicting the trades then carried out in Maryhill. It must have been a hive of activity. Ten of the panels are now back on display – here are a couple of examples, the Iron Moulders and the Calico Printers:
What surprised me is that there seems to be no documentation from the time to identify the exact locations and the people depicted in the panels, and no pictures of them in their original positions in the Hall. Research has come up with some likely possibilities and there’s an interesting booklet you can pick up to read about it. There’s also a display in the foyer of miniature replicas of all 20 panels set against a map showing roughly where the businesses were that they are thought to represent. What is known, is that they were ahead of their time, as most stained glass at this time was in churches and showed religious subjects. I think their simplicity is modern too, and you would not be surprised if you were told these were the new designs.
Alec went on to talk about the new panels which he designed and created. The brief was to reflect Maryhill as it is today, but not to replicate the style of the original glass. After much research and workshops with local people, not to mention time spent in Jaconnelli’s café, ten themes emerged for the panes. Techniques used included screenprinting photographs onto the glass with fascinating results – as with the original glass, you can pick up a booklet in the halls to find out more. Here are the Space Age and Regeneration panels:
The first has a QR code in the corner, which actually works, making it possibly the first interactive stained glass panel in the world.
Because we had other things going on over the weekend, that was all the Doors Open we had time for this year, but we made the most of what we had and learned a lot from both visits as well as enjoying them.
Maryhill is an area of Glasgow close to where we live which, although not particularly touristy, has some interesting developments going on. It dates from the coming of the canals in the 1790s and was called after Mary Hill who, with her husband Robert Graham, sold the first land for the township in 1791. Today’s destination was the former Burgh Halls, opened originally in April 1878 along with the adjacent police station, and derelict for many years before being sold to a Trust which raised the funds to reopen them earlier this year (although there’s still work going on on the roadway outside as you can see above). Today, the buildings house the main hall, meeting rooms, offices, a cafe and much more. For further information about the halls, including pictures of the stained glass, both original and modern, see the Trust’s website – there’s also a walking trail round more of Maryhill which I hope to follow very soon. Today, there was just time for lunch with a friend.
We entered through the gates below, which lead into a courtyard which was once the site of the Maryhill Fire Station. New gates by Andy Scott depict period firemen and their equipment. To the left is the Maryhill Leisure Centre, refurbished from the old Baths and Washouses (1898). However, we turned to the right to the Halls and the Cafe.
The Clean Plates Cafe is part of the Grassroots Organics family. It serves soup, sandwiches and a few other dishes. I had a hummus and aubergine sandwich and David had the aubergine skewers, both delicious. For future reference, I noted the presence of an all-day veggie breakfast ……….hmm, tempting. Upstairs, there were some old pub signs on display:
From the top picture, you can just see down into the cafe. This sign once sat on metal rails above the entrance to the Olde Tramcar Vaults and the soldier in his sentry box sat outside the HLI (Highland Light Infantry who used to be stationed at the nearby barracks).
Finally, we nipped across the road to Maryhill Library, a 1905 Carnegie library which also has interesting local history displays. I liked the report of its opening from the Daily Record and Mail in which the Lord Provost described libraries as “avenues of knowledge and wealth” and “potent factors in the destiny of a nation.” If only this spirit were alive in more places today.
All the buildings I’ve mentioned are listed, and all appear in the Maryhill Trail. A late breakfast in the cafe, followed by a couple of hours walking the trail could be a really good way of spending a Saturday morning. Watch this space!
There’s nothing much to see at Maryhill Old Parish Church Burial Ground, and I only have this one image taken by poking my phone through the firmly padlocked gates. However, I like the story behind the founding of the church, so here it is!
Even more exciting – I knew that Jessie took part in the post-box protests in Glasgow in 1913 (Suffragettes dropped ink or acid into post-boxes to destroy the mail). I’d read that this was in Kirklee, near where I live, but hadn’t given it much thought until I was asked if I knew which post-box it might have been. I now have access to a copy of Jessie’s unpublished autobiography in which she details some of the houses she worked in as a domestic servant, and one of them is just across the road from the current Kirklee post-box. When I looked at this box more closely, I found the insignia was ERVII – Edward the Seventh who died in 1910. This is probably the very box that Jessie used!
The Forth and Clyde Canal, which runs sea-to-sea between the two rivers, has passed through Glasgow since the eighteenth century, though it ceased to be navigable in 1963. However, the multi-million Millennium Link Project saw it reopen in 2000/2001. Inspired by the 
