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some i met

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.

Guy waiting outside Buchanan Street Subway Station
Young guy at Buchanan Street
Frank Mahon – fount of local knowledge at Carmyle Fords
Man collecting bottles to pay council tax
Two guys posing for a picture in St Enoch’s Square
Man waving from car, Saltmarket
In the subway
Two men outside bar, Paisley Road West
Ricky, Buchanan Street
Young visitors to Crookston Castle
Seven guys I met on the path to Duncolm
Man working in a skip
Tony McGee, Steeplejack
Brian McQuade
A young guy looking for directions in Kinning Park
Jim busking, Buchanan Street
Andy, George Square
Two men outside bar, Paisley Road West
Outside Sunny Govan Radio
Young guy dishing out flyers on Govan Road
On the way to Duncolm
Mark smoking outside bar, Paisley Road
Kerry and Mark kiss and make up
Jim, Buchanan Street
Feeding the pigeons
At Eglinton Toll
Father and daughter
Ricky’s bling and smoking hand
Tommy, Sunny Govan Radio

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)

Orkney Street Police Station cells at Wine Alley aka Broomloan Road
Lyceum cinema, Govan. Surreal reproduction of itself on banner
South Rotunda, Govan Road at Paisley Road Toll
Janitor’s house, Lambhill Street Primary School which I attended in the early 1960s
Site of M74 completion in June 2008
Scotland Street School. Where my mother attended in the 1940s
Off Ardencraig Road, Castlemilk. I believe I met Fred West here
View from Crookston Castle
Entrance, St Enoch’s Square
Govan Bus Station, Govan Cross
Grand Ole Opry, Paisley Road Toll. Used to be the Birds and Bees disco in the 1960s
87A Linthaugh Road, where I lived from November 1966 to October 1977
The Angel Building, Paisley Road Toll
On the way to the Barras
The original gatepost at Paisley Road Toll
Demolition near Crookston Castle, Brockburn Road, Pollok
Ex Howdens Engineering Works, Scotland Street where my grandmother and mother worked
Caged CCTV on Shaw Street, Govan
Glasgow SPT Subway train
Govan Cross. Due for redevelopment
Old insignia above ex-TSB bank, now a bookies
Ornate gate posts at the Govan Road entrance to Elder Park
Wine Alley, Govan – the Potheid Building
Building, Milnpark Street, Kinning Park
Pillar, Lambhill Street Primary School, Kinning Park
Donald Dewar statue, Buchanan Street – now on a raised plinth after being vandalised
Security sign, Seaward Street, Kinning Park
Ex-Turner and Newall factory, Admiral Street, Kinning Park where my father worked
View from Crookston Castle. Taken shortly before demolition
St Margaret Mary’s School, Stanley Street. The playground was on the roof
Scottish Poetry Garden, Queen’s Park
Burrell Museum, Pollok Estate
Council-sponsored fly-posting sabotage at the Trongate
Stanley Bar, Milnpark Street, Kinning Park
Old light on the Renfrew Street side of the Glasgow Film Theatre
Entrance to Govan Town Hall, now Film City Glasgow
Admiral Street, Kinning Park
Dougrie Road, Castlemilk
Harmony Row, Govan
Old sign off Paisley Road West
Water Treatment Plant, Seaward Street, Kinning Park
Pollok Community Centre I once – only once – attended Scottish Country Dancing
Ex Gray, Dunn factory, Stanley Street. I used to beg for broken biscuits outside
Cambridge Street Car Park

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)

Ross Hall
Railway Bridge at Carmyle Fords
Ornate chimney stack, Ross Hall
Carron Bridge near the Fords
Gallowflats Mound
Sundial on entrance arch to Rutherglen Old Parish Church
Boulders at Camphill Earthwork
Indents on Bonnyton Mound
Ringwork in the North Wood, Pollok Estate
Carron Fords from the Bridge
Bonnyton Moor
Castlehill at sunset
Bell Tower, Rutherglen Old Parish Church
Water Tower near Cochno
Tower, Cathkin Braes at sunset
The top of Tinto Hill – aka – Tintock Top
The Craw Stane near Eaglesham
Victorian relief of Christ – ‘It is finished!’
Dunwan Hill Fort
View from the Tak Ma Doon Road Car Park
Carmyle Fords
Rutherglen Old Parish Church
Seraph, Allen Mausoleum, Necropolis
Monument with Egyptian carvings, Necropolis
Stanely Castle
John Knox Monument, Necropolis
Dumgoyne
Tombstone, Necropolis
Provan Hall from the gardens
Site of Nether Pollok Castle, Pollok Estate
Crookston Castle
Remains of Roman Fort at Antonine Wall
View from Crookston Castle
Renfrew Old Parish Church
Tinto Hill in alignment with Duncolm
Tinto Hill seen from Garf Water
Argyll Stone and St Conval’s Chariot, off the car park at the Normandy Hotel
Boulder marking at Camphill Earthwork
Greenside reservoir near Duncolm
Paisley Abbey
Carron Fords
Headless angel, Necropolis
Cast iron gravestone, Renfrew
Humbie Road
Dumbarton Rock from the path to Duncolm and Loch Humphrey
Govan Old Parish Church
View from Cathkin Braes
Plastic wrapped boulders at the Ringwork, North Wood, Pollok Estate
Rutherglen bell tower
Site of Castlemilk House
Necropolis
Tombstone, Renfrew Old Parish Church
Site of Old Cathcart Castle
Duncolm Hill
Broken statue at the Necropolis
Monument, Necropolis
Bonnyton Mound aka The Devil’s Plantation
Broken monument, Necropolis
Woodend Loch looking north – now a SSSI
Interior, Crookston Castle
View from Necropolis looking south-west
Carved tree at the Ringwork, Pollok Estate
Detail of entrance to Provan Hall
Humbie Road at the Devil’s Plantation

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)

Sign, Virginia Street
Plaque, Trongate
Detail, Brunswick Street
Govan Milestone by Helen Denerley
Insignia and motto, Clydebank
Detail, Pierce Institute, Govan
The Castle Bar price list
Pierce Institute, Govan
Statue of industrialist John Elder, Elderpark
Schipka Pass, off Gallowgate
Detail, Corinthian Bar, Ingram Street
MacKinnon’s Bar, Gallowgate
Detail above entrance to shipyard offices
Detail, ex-British Linen Bank, Govan Road
Govan Road
Detail of derelict building, Govan Road
Cosmo Chicken Bar, Govan Road
Disused church, Bowling
Signs off Tontine Lane, Trongate
Statue of James Watt, George Square
Christian Association, St Andrew’s Cross
Val d’Oro chip shop
City Chambers, George Square
Detail, Pierce Institute, Govan
Detail, ex-Trustee Savings Bank, Govan Road
Close entrance, 59 Shaw Street, Govan
Angel/cherub on tombstone, Govan Old Parish Church
Mercury’s head, old Glasgow Herald newspaper offices, Buchanan Street
Laurieston Bar
Gartloch asylum
Elderpark Library. Opened by Andrew Carnegie
ex-Govan Shipyard, Govan Road
The Mercat Building, Trongate
Old road sign near Tinto Hill
Statue of Lady Elder, Elderpark
Detail, Christian Association
Derelict shop, London Road
Carlton Place
Detail, Brunswick Street
Custom House Bowling

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)

Clock outside Buchanan Street Bus Station
A New Gorbals housing development
Side elevation of the SMG/STV Building, Pacific Quay
New building in New Gorbals
Detail of a New Gorbals housing development
Glasgow Science Centre
Side street at Glasgow Fort
New houses at Gartloch Village – alien brick arrives in Scotland
Silverburn Shopping Centre, Pollok
Utopia, off Pollokshaws Road. Now available for rent
Digital Media Centre, Pacific Quay. Subsidised offices for TV/Media companies
Farmfoods, Silverburn. Earmarked for closure, along with the Gala Bingo and the Credit Union
Shields Rd Subway car park, Scotland Street
Glasgow Fort Junction 10 off the M8
Looking north from the Arc Bridge
The SMG timeline runs out at 2007
New apartments on the Clyde – many now to let
SMG Building, Pacific Quay, Govan Road
Rear of News International, Middlesex Street. Conspicuously heavy on security
Another New Gorbals housing development
Clyde Auditorium, aka the Armadillo. Generic silver-clad construction now seen in most cities
Tait’s Tower recreation – it never worked
Sheriff Court
A new development on Pollokshaws Road
The SMG logo as street furniture, off Pacific Quay
The Arc aka The Squinty Bridge, Govan Road. Closed for 6 months due to bad construction
M74 Completion Roadworks – driving its way through south-side Glasgow communities
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