Paisley

Time ticks on: clock towers

Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter62 Comments

Time does funny things in lockdown. On the one hand it seems to go on and on forever. On the other, because every day is much the same, it seems to flash by. Another difficulty is finding places to walk when we are confined to our local area: I never thought I would say I was sick of Glasgow’s West End, but I truly am! So little things make a difference, and I was delighted to read this tweet from Glasgow City Archives.

A follow up thread explained that when the factory was demolished in the mid-1990s to make way for new flats, the developers rescued the clock and incorporated the timepiece into the new building. Sutcliffe Road is within easy walking distance – a new destination! So off I went in the snow and ice and, sure enough, there is the clock.

Sutcliffe Road
Sutcliffe Road

This got me searching through my phone for unused images of other clock towers. I assembled quite a few. At the eastern end of Glasgow City Centre, we have the Tolbooth and St Andrews in the Square.

Tolbooth
St Andrews in the Square

I’ve only recently found out why so many clock faces are blue with gold numbers and hands. Apparently it dates from a decree by Henry VIII that, following God’s command to Moses (Exodus 39) to make Aaron the priest “garments of blue with gold bells”, church clocks should be “blew with the signs upon them gilt”. Here’s another blue one, this time outside what is now the Tron Theatre on Trongate. You can just see the Tolbooth peeking out again in the first image.

Trongate
Trongate

Elsewhere in Glasgow is the new(ish) Clydeside Distillery, built in an old pumphouse with a modern glass extension. With the latter excluded, as in the second image, I think it looks more like an old monastery.

Clydeside Distillery
Clydeside Distillery

Moving to Govan, these shots of the old Southern General are taken from the top level of the multi-storey carpark for the new hospital, which you can see in the final image. Not so attractive (and no clock), but probably much more functional for the 21st century.

Southern General
Southern General
QUEH

Moving out of Glasgow, here is the beautiful clock tower on Paisley Town Hall, complete with bells.

Paisley Town Hall
Paisley Town Hall

From our summer walks in East Dunbartonshire, here are Bishopbriggs Library and the derelict High Kirk of Campsie in Lennoxtown.

Bishopbriggs Library
High Kirk of Campsie

And last, but not of course least, to Edinburgh, where we finish at the Tolbooth Tavern. Sadly, like all pubs in Scotland, it’s currently closed so we can’t pop in for a pint. But cheers anyway! Tell me about your favourite clocks and time facts in the comments – or even do your own post!

Paisley patterns

Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter69 Comments
Anchor Mill, Paisley

During the current restrictions, one of the few reasons we are allowed to cross the city boundary is to visit Mum who lives in Paisley on Glasgow’s eastern border. It’s a historic town, and aspects of it have featured in posts before, but it’s never had a whole post to itself. Now, when I have no new travels to write about, is the time to pull together some of the photos we have taken there over the last few years.

Paisley became prominent in the 19th century as a centre of the weaving industry. By 1993 all the mills had closed, including the Anchor Mill, shown above, which is now housing.  However, the legacy lives on in street names such as Mill Street, Cotton Street, Thread Street, Shuttle Street, Lawn Street, Silk Street, and Gauze Street, and in the fact that the town gave its name to the Paisley shawl and the Paisley pattern from which I take my title. That’s the last you’ll hear from me about weaving though – I’m going to show you some patterns or themes that I found in the town.

The Abbey and around

Long before its weaving heyday, Paisley became prominent in the 12th century with the establishment of Paisley Abbey, an important religious hub. The smaller adjoining building is known as the Place of Paisley and is the sole remaining part of the extensive monastery associated with the Abbey.

Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey
Place of Paisley

Nearby is the Town Hall, seen here reflected in the White Cart Water, a tributary of the River Clyde. Still in the historic part of town, at the top of Church Hill is Oakshaw Trinity which, as a result of mergers, is part of both the Church of Scotland and the United Reformed Church.

Church Hill
Oakshaw Trinity

Overall, Paisley town centre has the highest concentration of listed buildings of anywhere in Scotland outside of Edinburgh – these have been just a few.

Memorials

I have driven past the first three memorials in this section hundreds, if not thousands, of times but have only recently investigated on foot. As I drive into Paisley, the first memorial I see is this cairn to Marjorie Bruce, eldest daughter of King Robert I, otherwise known as Robert the Bruce.

Marjorie Bruce cairn
Marjorie Bruce cairn

The caption tells that she was fatally injured by falling from her horse near this spot in 1316. Her son, born posthumously, became Robert II, first of the Stewart Kings of Scotland. Why was he a Stewart, not a Bruce? Paisley Abbey was founded by Walter FitzAlan, the first High Steward of Scotland (the officer who controlled the domestic affairs of the royal household). His descendants adopted the surname Steward, which became Stewart, and later still was changed to Stuart. Marjorie Bruce married the sixth High Steward, thus her son was the first king of the Stewart dynasty. All six High Stewards are buried in the Abbey, as is Marjorie herself. The title of High Steward was merged into the crown with Robert II and is still held by the current Prince of Wales.

Further towards town is this statue of St Mirin, next to St Mirin’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. St Mirin (c563-600) is the patron saint of Paisley, and his monument was erected in 2003. He also gave his name to the local football team, St Mirren.

St Mirin’s Roman Catholic Cathedral
St Mirin monument, Paisley
St Mirin monument, Paisley
St Mirin monument, Paisley

Having driven past the town centre, I take a right turn to head up to Mum’s house. At the corner is this Hygienic Fountain with its inscription from the Gospel of St John “whosoever drinketh of this water” … etc.

Hygenic Fountain, Paisley
Hygenic Fountain, Paisley
Hygenic Fountain, Paisley
Hygenic Fountain, Paisley

In the centre of town is Dunn Square, an open space presented to Paisley in 1894 by Sir William Dunn, MP for the Burgh from 1891 to 1906. His monument is this scantily clad woman with her back to the ubiquitous Queen Victoria.

Dunn memorial, Paisley
Queen Victoria

On the railings nearby is a memorial I find far more interesting and poignant. A tree was planted in 2010 by the Renfrewshire Women’s Association and dedicated to the memory of all Renfrewshire women who “live in fear of violence and abuse, or have been murdered by their violent partner”. Next to the tree and plaque hangs a garland and it is always updated. In the gallery below, the trailing white ribbons are from 2012 and the other two are from February and Christmas 2020. It’s nice to know that the memorial is so carefully tended.

Memorial in 2012
Memorial in February 2020
Memorial at Christmas 2020

Street art

The Paisley First Murals Project has been created to help breathe new life into the town centre and uses only local artists. The most concentrated area is Browns Lane where street artists Mark Worst and Danny McDermott created a tribute to some well-known Buddies (the name for people coming from Paisley) including Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan of Stealers Wheel, the Cup-winning St Mirren Team of 1987, singer Paolo Nutini and local historian Ellen Farmer. John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix are definitely NOT Paisley buddies, but appear on the side of nearby music venue, The Bungalow.

Joe Egan
Gerry Rafferty
St Mirren 1987
St Mirren 1987
St Mirren 1987
Ellen Farmer
Ellen Farmer
Birdcage
Paolo Nutini
John Lennon
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix

The Kingfisher, also by Mark Worst, is on Johnston Street. It highlights one of the town’s relatively unknown sons, Alexander Wilson, who is credited with establishing ornithology as a science.

Kingfisher by Mark Worst
Kingfisher by Mark Worst

And Breathe by Duncan Wilson and Reborn by Kevin Cantwell are on Lawn Street and Lady Lane respectively.

And Breathe by Duncan Wilson
Reborn by Kevin Cantwell

The trail has inspired some of the businesses around town to create their own art, such as these murals on Japan Street Food on Renfrew Road.

Japan Street Food
Japan Street Food mural

Pub signs and ghost signs

I do love a good sign! The Tea Gardens Tavern sounds a lot more genteel to me than it actually looks.

Tea Gardens Tavern
Tea Gardens Tavern

The Belhaven Brewery is particularly good at designing attractive signs – The Tea Gardens and all but one of the signs below are by Belhaven.

Craig Dhu
Afton Bar, Paisley
Gabriels, Paisley
Tannahills
Charleston Arms

And finally to ghost signs. I can’t remember exactly where these are from, but I think they are all around the Espedair Street / Neilston Road area. Wm Semple Son & Co. Ltd, Engineers and Smiths, is a definite ghost sign. I’m not sure if Alison Stuart, Florist, counts as she still seems to be in business, but it’s certainly a very old sign. I’m also not sure what the initials and date on a gable signify, but they look attractive.

Decorated gable
Semple and Son
Alison Stuart, Florist
Alison Stuart, Florist

And that’s the end of my whistle stop tour of Paisley, which is by no means definitive. Other posts which have featured Paisley include:

The Great Tapestry of Scotland and the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry, both of which took place in Anchor Mill, as shown in this post’s header, and have interior shots of its central atrium.

Glasgow Gallivanting March 2019 features Thomas Coats Memorial Church with one of the most fabulous loos ever, February 2020 includes another stroll round the town centre with a different selection of historic buildings, and June 2020 has the tale of Mrs Donoghue and the snail in the ginger beer.

Now to see what else I can recycle a post from …

Glasgow Gallivanting: June 2020

Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter46 Comments
Martyrs’ School

I’m ashamed to say that I’ve lived in Glasgow for 35 years and there is one Charles Rennie Mackintosh building that I have never seen before, so one sunny Sunday in June we made the Martyrs’ Public School, in Parson Street in Townhead, the goal of our daily walk. It’s one of the earlier buildings Mackintosh worked on, and hasn’t been a school for many years, though unlike others it hasn’t been coverted to housing but is part of the city’s social work department.

Commissioned by the School Board of Glasgow and built between 1895 and 1898, the architects were Honeyman and Keppie, the practice in which Mackintosh was a senior assistant: his strong influence can be seen clearly in the building’s style. At the time it was set in the middle of a densely populated area of tenement buildings which have long since vanished to be replaced by more modern homes (as seen in the first picture below) and a busy dual carriageway. Mackintosh himself was born at 70 Parson Street and a plaque next to the school commemorates this. The black sculpture has an inscription by Mackintosh: Without you, everything has a flatness. I feel as if I’m waiting for something all the time. I guess, but don’t know, that this was addressed to his wife, Margaret Macdonald.

Mackintosh sculpture, Townhead
Martyrs’ School
Martyrs’ School
Martyrs’ School
Martyrs’ School
Martyrs’ School
Mackintosh birthplace plaque

Across the road two other buildings complete this island of tradition amongst modernity. St Mungo’s Church, designed by George Goldie in an Italian Gothic style, was built in 1841, with later work in 1877. Next to the church, to the east, is St Mungo’s Retreat.

St Mungo’s
St Mungo’s
St Mungo’s

On the way to Townhead, we stopped to look at the Orient Buildings in Cowcaddens. Originally a boarding house, then a warehouse, this iron-framed construction was designed by William James Anderson in an Italianate style and completed in 1895. We couldn’t help but notice that we were being spied upon from one of the windows …

Orient Buildings
Orient Buildings and cat
Orient Buildings

Another place we have long known about, but never visited, is the memorial garden on the site of the Stockline Plastics Factory explosion in 2004 in which nine people died. One of our walks took us past it by chance and we spent a few minutes paying our respects. It’s beautifully maintained. The red building in the background of the first shot is the current Stockline Factory.

Stockline Memorial Garden
Stockline Memorial Garden
Stockline Memorial Garden
Stockline Memorial Garden
Stockline Memorial Garden

This next section is not something that happened this month: I’m including it specially for Geoff LePard who has, amongst many other things, been writing about his undergraduate adventures as a law student in Bristol. In one post he included a passage about his grapplings with the law of tort and the case of the snail in the ginger beer. I knew all about this – and I probably first heard about it around the same time as Geoff, because we both went to university in 1975 and my boyfriend in my undergraduate years was a law student. Anyway, enough said about him, he’s history, which coincidentally is what I was studying. Back to the snail …

The case in question originated in Paisley, the town my mum lives in, where a sculpture of May Donoghue, who drank the contaminated ginger beer in 1928, was erected in 2018. The plaque below explains it better than I ever could – and not till I was preparing this post did I notice that the artist is Mandy McIntosh, whom I have met a few times through a project she led at the women’s library.

Dear Duty sculpture
Dear Duty sculpture

Across the road is even more information, at the site of the Wellmeadow Café where Mrs Donoghue’s friend bought the ginger beer. Possibly only Geoff will want to read it, but I include it for him to peruse if he wishes!

I know I said I’d give up photographing the rainbows and teddies which decorated Glasgow during lockdown, but I haven’t – although I have cut down. This month, the Black Lives Matter message has been included in, or replaced, many of them.

And finally, last month I wrote about the virtual Twitter walk that I’d done for the Women’s Library. One of the other guides has done a short video trailer for the same walk, embedded below. Can you guess which voice is mine in the audio description? I’ll leave you with that puzzle – happy July!

West End Women’s Heritage Walk Trailer from Glasgow Women’s Library on Vimeo.

Glasgow Gallivanting: February 2020

Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter67 Comments
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
Isabelle 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!

Glasgow Gallivanting: March 2019

Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter91 Comments

One of the best things that happened in March was that Janet, an old friend from university days, visited for the weekend. We hadn’t met for over 30 years, but it could have been yesterday. Janet was one of my flat-mates the year that I met John – he lived in the flat above us as I’ve recounted before. Apart from lots of chatting and catching up, we braved the terrible weather to visit two museums.

Scotland Street School Museum

Scotland Street School was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh between 1903 and 1906 for the School Board of Glasgow. Now a museum, it tells the story of 100 years of education in Scotland, from the late 19th century to the late 20th century. Amongst other features, it has three reconstructed classrooms: Victorian, World War II, and 1950s/60s. The last one reminded me very much of my own school days. Spot the class dunce!

Drill hall
Stairwell
Tiled pillars
Mackintosh windows
Victorian classroom
World War 2 classroom
1950s/60s classroom
Cookery kitchen
Cookery kitchen
Class dunce!
The jannie (janitor)
Reluctantly to school

I loved the reasons some parents gave for their children to be excused gym when the idea of removing garments became common in the 1930s:

  • My Bertie has never worn underpants, so he is not to take off his trousers
  • Nobody is going to force Marjorie to take off her clothes in public
  • I object to Harry exposing himself

What would they think of the minuscule lycra outfits worn by athletes today?

New Lanark

The cotton mill village of New Lanark was founded in the 18th century and quickly became known for the enlightened management of social pioneer, Robert Owen. He provided decent homes, fair wages, free health care, a new education system for villagers and the first workplace nursery school in the world. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, New Lanark is both a living community and an award-winning museum. Although we go there quite often, it’s usually for a specific exhibition or to take a walk to the Falls of Clyde – our visit with Janet was the first time we’ve been in the museum part for some time, and we’ve certainly never accessed the lovely roof garden before (see above, and below for specific features).

Roof garden
Robert Owen quote

One of the mills has a working loom and its products are sold in the Visitor Centre shop. The mill worker looks tired!

Loom
Loom

We toured Robert Owen’s own house which, although much larger than a mill-workers house, wasn’t spectacularly grand. It can be seen on the left, below, from the Roof Garden.

Robert Owen’s house
Robert Owen’s dining room

I bet the bathroom facilities were better than those for the workers though! Stairheid cludgies (shared indoor toilets) were only installed in the 1930s.

Stairheid cludgie
Stairheid cludgie

It was interesting to see the schoolroom after our visit to Scotland Street the day before. It’s much bigger than the classrooms there, but children of all ages would have been educated in the same space.

Schoolroom
Schoolroom

Finally, we popped into the current exhibition, the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry in which communities across the world document their Scottish connections. We saw this in Paisley a few years ago, but enjoyed a second look. A small flavour:

The Tenement House

We also meant to visit The Tenement House with Janet, but ran out of time, so John and I went ourselves the following weekend. 145 Buccleuch Street in Garnethill appears to be an ordinary red sandstone tenement building from the late 19th century, but inside lies a time capsule.

Shorthand typist Agnes Toward (1886-1975) moved in to one of the first floor flats with her mother, a dressmaker, in 1911 and lived here until her last ten years which she spent in hospital. After her death, it was found that she had made so few changes over the years that the early 20th century interior was intact. When the National Trust for Scotland acquired the property and opened it as a museum in the 1980s, the only major change they made was to replace the electric lighting Miss Toward had installed in the 1960s with more authentic gas. Just looking round these four rooms took me back to my childhood because it reminded me so much of my paternal grandparents’ home, particularly the black range and the bed recess in the kitchen.

Vintage!
Tenement House love
Mrs Toward’s sign
Bedroom
Bedroom
Bathroom
Bed recess in kichen
Kitchen range

Garnethill (the clue is in the name) is quite hilly, so as we left we stopped to admire the view towards Glasgow’s West End.

Thomas Coats Memorial Church

My sister was up visiting from London over the Mothers’ Day weekend. We had family meals on the Friday and Sunday, but on Saturday she and I were free to wander around Paisley where Mum lives. The highlight was a tour of Coats Memorial Church, formerly known as the “Baptist Cathedral” of Europe. It was commissioned by the family of Thomas Coats (1809-1883), one of the founders of Coats the thread-makers, and held its first service in 1894 and its last in August 2018 when the dwindling congregation could no longer sustain a building designed for 1000 worshippers. It’s now owned by a Trust which is raising money to turn it into a venue for concerts, weddings, conferences and so on. As part of the campaign, there are open days every Saturday from 12-4pm.

The interior was every bit as grand as the exterior, though it was the behind-the-scenes parts that I enjoyed most. The splendid Doulton toilet in the vestry was something to see!

Nave
Pulpit
Vestry toilet
Stencilling in vestry
Baptistry
Mosaic floor

The last bit

First a post-script to my Dundee posts, in one of which I expressed the hope that the new V&A wasn’t sucking in visitors from other museums in the city. Quite the reverse! I recently read a report that showed numbers at the Discovery were up 40.5% in 2018, at the McManus 31.2% and at Verdant Works 23.8%. The V&A itself recently hit 500,000 visitors six months earlier than targeted. We visited all of those, so I’m glad to have played my small part in putting Dundee more firmly on the tourist map.

I gave my talk on suffragette Jessie Stephen again, this time at a suffrage event in Govanhill. As part of the associated exhibition artist Ann Vance has created a portrait of Jessie, and two beautiful banners were also on display.

Banner by Helen de Main
Jessie Stephen by Ann Vance
Banner by Glendale Women’s Cafe

I read a lovely article about new Scottish words which have been included in the latest Oxford English Dictionary update: Fantoosh sitooteries and more. However, I’m saving that as a rich seam for future posts and sticking to the word I had originally chosen for this month. You might have noticed that our Brexit deadline sailed past last week and yet we’re still in the EU. “Stramash” is a noisy commotion or uproar, and seems to me to describe recent proceedings in parliament perfectly. Who knows what will have happened by April’s gallivanting post?

Have a great month!

Scottish Diaspora Tapestry

Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter7 Comments

In May, I posted about the Great Tapestry of Scotland. Now, another fabulous tapestry is visiting the same venue – Anchor Mills in Paisley. The Scottish Diaspora Tapestry is on show until the 22nd, then it’s off to Inverness. 25 communities across the world document their Scottish connections – catch it if you can! Here’s just a flavour.

Anchor Mills
A mine of information
Ceilidh
Southern Asia Cluster
Scottish gardeners
Cutty Sark
Hong Kong
Settlers’ Lament
Trail of Tears
Book of Kells
Culross
Mary Queen of Scots
Mackintoshes in France
Scottish Women’s Hospital Unit

The Great Tapestry of Scotland

Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter18 Comments
Great Tapestry of Scotland
Anchor Mill
Atrium, Anchor Mill

Anchor Mill in Paisley, near Glasgow, has long been in the background of my life. I remember it from the pre-motorway days of the 1960s when our family drove past it every summer on our way from NE England to visit my grandparents in Greenock. Now that my parents live in Paisley I drive past it every week on my way to visit them, but until recently I have never been inside it. Most of the buildings have been demolished, but the former thread mill now contains businesses and flats. At the moment it is also home to Threading West, the only West of Scotland exhibition of the Great Tapestry of Scotland. It’s hosted there by the Paisley Thread Mill Museum until 8th June, then it moves to the Scottish Parliament in July. If at all possible, I urge you to see it.

The 143 metre-long tapestry, strictly speaking an embroidery, was created from a design by artist, Andrew Crummy, by 1000 stitchers working in groups all over Scotland. It tells the story of the country from the Ice Age to modern times, but rather than give a chronological account I’ve grouped some of my favourite panels into themes. We took loads of photographs, so it’s really hard to decide what to leave out! Generally speaking, I enjoyed the 19th and 20th century panels best.

Towns and cities

Glasgow, of course, Paisley with its famous pattern, and the tenements which are ubiquitous to Scotland’s older towns and cities. Scotland’s post-war new towns are represented by East Kilbride (where I used to work) and Cumbernauld with its references to the film, Gregory’s girl which was filmed there.

Let Glasgow Flourish
Glasgow City of Culture 1990
Tenement life
East Kilbride
Paisley Lady
Cumbernauld

Politics

I had a huge list here, but I’ve restricted myself to the Act of Union between England and Scotland in 1707 and the reconvening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 (maybe an extra panel will be needed after the Independence referendum in September?) and some scenes from Trade Union history.

Act of Union 1707
STUC founded 1897
UCS work-in 1971
Miners Strike 1984
Scottish Parliament 1999

Women

There were many panels about named men, but I can only remember one about a named woman. (Please correct me if I’m wrong!) Elsie Inglis was one of Scotland’s first female doctors and is remembered for her work setting up field hospitals in the First World War. There were several more panels about women’s lives – and I was pleased to notice the detail from the Glasgow City of Culture panel (bottom right) acknowledging Glasgow Women’s Library which grew out of that event.

“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”
Shetland knitters
Fisher quines
Suffragettes
Elsie Inglis
The Steamie
Women’s Library

Education and culture

By the sixteenth century Scotland had four universities (St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh), when the much-bigger England still only had two, and John Knox was dreaming of a school in every parish. By the 19th century this had more or less been realised, and a look at the detail on some of these panels will show us punching over our weight ever since. (Not that I’m biased, oh no.)

Ancient universities
A school in every parish
King James Bible 1611
A Caithness School 1851
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Adam Smith
Robert Burns
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Movies (detail)
Scotland at the movies
Television
Edinburgh festival 1947
Comedy
Pop music

Science, technology and industry

Marvel once again at the invention and innovation coming out of this small nation of ours!

New Lanark
James Watt
Joseph Black
James Clerk Maxwell
Forth Rail Bridge
Inventor of the bicycle
Workshop of the Empire

Margaret’s panel

And finally (sighs of relief all round) – the last panel, both on the blog and in the exhibition itself, is one on which I actually know one of the stitchers. Margaret Harrison, friend and erstwhile boss, contributed to this representation by Strathendrick Embroiderers’ Guild of the resurgence of Gaelic culture. She did the fish and Gaelic text which took 24 hours of stitching in all – this gives some idea of the amount of labour which went into the whole project. (Note also the wee joke with three ducks joining the flight of geese.)

Resurgence of Gaelic culture
Fish
Gaelic text
Flying ducks

If you haven’t fallen off your perch with boredom yet, I can recommend another couple of blogs I’ve come across about the tapestry – Karie at Fourth Edition and Ailish Sinclair – but my biggest recommendation is: just go!