On the streets of Glasgow often I meet people who ask me what and why I’m photographing. Some assume I’m from TV. Others accuse me of terrorist activity. Mostly I listen while they tell me their life stories. Here are some of those people.
Frank Mahon – fount of local knowledge at Carmyle Fords
Father and daughter
Brian McQuade
Mark smoking outside bar, Paisley Road
Man waving from car, Saltmarket
In the subway
Outside Sunny Govan Radio
On the way to Duncolm
Guy waiting outside Buchanan Street Subway Station
At Eglinton Toll
Ricky’s bling and smoking hand
Kerry and Mark kiss and make up
Young visitors to Crookston Castle
Ricky, Buchanan Street
Two guys posing for a picture in St Enoch’s Square
Two men outside bar, Paisley Road West
Andy, George Square
Feeding the pigeons
Young guy dishing out flyers on Govan Road
A young guy looking for directions in Kinning Park
Man working in a skip
Jim busking, Buchanan Street
Seven guys I met on the path to Duncolm
Tommy, Sunny Govan Radio
Two men outside bar, Paisley Road West
Young guy at Buchanan Street
Tony McGee, Steeplejack
Jim, Buchanan Street
Man collecting bottles to pay council tax
my places
Glasgow is where I was born and raised. Sadly all of the places I lived, studied and worked in have been demolished or altered beyond recogition. Never has a city shapeshifted more. (back to top)
Old insignia above ex-TSB bank, now a bookies
Old light on the Renfrew Street side of the Glasgow Film Theatre
87A Linthaugh Road, where I lived from November 1966 to October 1977
Wine Alley, Govan – the Potheid Building
South Rotunda, Govan Road at Paisley Road Toll
Ornate gate posts at the Govan Road entrance to Elder Park
Off Ardencraig Road, Castlemilk. I believe I met Fred West here
St Margaret Mary’s School, Stanley Street. The playground was on the roof
Caged CCTV on Shaw Street, Govan
Scottish Poetry Garden, Queen’s Park
On the way to the Barras
Burrell Museum, Pollok Estate
View from Crookston Castle
Dougrie Road, Castlemilk
View from Crookston Castle. Taken shortly before demolition
Cambridge Street Car Park
Water Treatment Plant, Seaward Street, Kinning Park
Stanley Bar, Milnpark Street, Kinning Park
Council-sponsored fly-posting sabotage at the Trongate
Glasgow SPT Subway train
The original gatepost at Paisley Road Toll
Lyceum cinema, Govan. Surreal reproduction of itself on banner
Grand Ole Opry, Paisley Road Toll. Used to be the Birds and Bees disco in the 1960s
Old sign off Paisley Road West
Donald Dewar statue, Buchanan Street – now on a raised plinth after being vandalised
Entrance to Govan Town Hall, now Film City Glasgow
Govan Cross. Due for redevelopment
The Angel Building, Paisley Road Toll
Pollok Community Centre I once – only once – attended Scottish Country Dancing
Building, Milnpark Street, Kinning Park
Janitor’s house, Lambhill Street Primary School which I attended in the early 1960s
Ex Gray, Dunn factory, Stanley Street. I used to beg for broken biscuits outside
Ex-Turner and Newall factory, Admiral Street, Kinning Park where my father worked
Security sign, Seaward Street, Kinning Park
Entrance, St Enoch’s Square
Scotland Street School. Where my mother attended in the 1940s
Site of M74 completion in June 2008
Ex Howdens Engineering Works, Scotland Street where my grandmother and mother worked
Harmony Row, Govan
Admiral Street, Kinning Park
Orkney Street Police Station cells at Wine Alley aka Broomloan Road
Pillar, Lambhill Street Primary School, Kinning Park
Govan Bus Station, Govan Cross
Demolition near Crookston Castle, Brockburn Road, Pollok
harry’s places
A writer and lay archaeologist, Harry Bell was my inspiration. I followed in his footsteps in search of the many sites mentioned in his book, Glasgow’s Secret Geometry: The City’s Oldest Mystery. (back to top)
Carmyle Fords
Site of Nether Pollok Castle, Pollok Estate
John Knox Monument, Necropolis
Humbie Road at the Devil’s Plantation
Broken statue at the Necropolis
Railway Bridge at Carmyle Fords
Stanely Castle
Tinto Hill seen from Garf Water
Carved tree at the Ringwork, Pollok Estate
Rutherglen bell tower
Gallowflats Mound
Boulders at Camphill Earthwork
Dumbarton Rock from the path to Duncolm and Loch Humphrey
Cast iron gravestone, Renfrew
Bonnyton Moor
Detail of entrance to Provan Hall
The Craw Stane near Eaglesham
Boulder marking at Camphill Earthwork
View from Crookston Castle
Paisley Abbey
Necropolis
Ringwork in the North Wood, Pollok Estate
Broken monument, Necropolis
Argyll Stone and St Conval’s Chariot, off the car park at the Normandy Hotel
Victorian relief of Christ – ‘It is finished!’
Site of Old Cathcart Castle
Bell Tower, Rutherglen Old Parish Church
Monument with Egyptian carvings, Necropolis
Water Tower near Cochno
Dunwan Hill Fort
Interior, Crookston Castle
Greenside reservoir near Duncolm
Tombstone, Necropolis
Site of Castlemilk House
Woodend Loch looking north – now a SSSI
Carron Bridge near the Fords
Indents on Bonnyton Mound
Rutherglen Old Parish Church
The top of Tinto Hill – aka – Tintock Top
Humbie Road
Tinto Hill in alignment with Duncolm
Carron Fords from the Bridge
Dumgoyne
Ross Hall
Tombstone, Renfrew Old Parish Church
Provan Hall from the gardens
Bonnyton Mound aka The Devil’s Plantation
Govan Old Parish Church
View from Necropolis looking south-west
Remains of Roman Fort at Antonine Wall
Plastic wrapped boulders at the Ringwork, North Wood, Pollok Estate
Duncolm Hill
Seraph, Allen Mausoleum, Necropolis
Castlehill at sunset
Renfrew Old Parish Church
View from Cathkin Braes
Sundial on entrance arch to Rutherglen Old Parish Church
Monument, Necropolis
Headless angel, Necropolis
View from the Tak Ma Doon Road Car Park
Carron Fords
Tower, Cathkin Braes at sunset
Ornate chimney stack, Ross Hall
Crookston Castle
old places
Glasgow – the dear green place – has a habit of disappearing. Here are a few of the old places photographed on my travels – some of which have since been demolished. (back to top)
Derelict shop, London Road
The Mercat Building, Trongate
Signs off Tontine Lane, Trongate
Statue of Lady Elder, Elderpark
Govan Milestone by Helen Denerley
Mercury’s head, old Glasgow Herald newspaper offices, Buchanan Street
ex-Govan Shipyard, Govan Road
City Chambers, George Square
The Castle Bar price list
Detail, ex-Trustee Savings Bank, Govan Road
Old road sign near Tinto Hill
Laurieston Bar
Detail, Corinthian Bar, Ingram Street
Angel/cherub on tombstone, Govan Old Parish Church
Detail, ex-British Linen Bank, Govan Road
Close entrance, 59 Shaw Street, Govan
Detail of derelict building, Govan Road
Detail, Christian Association
Plaque, Trongate
Detail, Pierce Institute, Govan
Detail, Pierce Institute, Govan
Sign, Virginia Street
MacKinnon’s Bar, Gallowgate
Insignia and motto, Clydebank
Gartloch asylum
Detail, Brunswick Street
Disused church, Bowling
Elderpark Library. Opened by Andrew Carnegie
Detail above entrance to shipyard offices
Govan Road
Val d’Oro chip shop
Schipka Pass, off Gallowgate
Pierce Institute, Govan
Statue of industrialist John Elder, Elderpark
Cosmo Chicken Bar, Govan Road
Christian Association, St Andrew’s Cross
Statue of James Watt, George Square
Custom House Bowling
Detail, Brunswick Street
Carlton Place
new places
Glasgow is a work-in-progress, not all of it progressive. Gone is the red and blonde sandstone, replaced by brick, glass and steel. (back to top)
New building in New Gorbals
Farmfoods, Silverburn. Earmarked for closure, along with the Gala Bingo and the Credit Union
The SMG timeline runs out at 2007
New apartments on the Clyde – many now to let
Tait’s Tower recreation – it never worked
The Arc aka The Squinty Bridge, Govan Road. Closed for 6 months due to bad construction
Looking north from the Arc Bridge
SMG Building, Pacific Quay, Govan Road
Side street at Glasgow Fort
Shields Rd Subway car park, Scotland Street
Clock outside Buchanan Street Bus Station
Glasgow Fort Junction 10 off the M8
Side elevation of the SMG/STV Building, Pacific Quay
A new development on Pollokshaws Road
The SMG logo as street furniture, off Pacific Quay
M74 Completion Roadworks – driving its way through south-side Glasgow communities
Utopia, off Pollokshaws Road. Now available for rent
Another New Gorbals housing development
Sheriff Court
Detail of a New Gorbals housing development
Clyde Auditorium, aka the Armadillo. Generic silver-clad construction now seen in most cities
New houses at Gartloch Village – alien brick arrives in Scotland
Digital Media Centre, Pacific Quay. Subsidised offices for TV/Media companies
A New Gorbals housing development
Rear of News International, Middlesex Street. Conspicuously heavy on security