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.

: Father and daughter

: Man collecting bottles to pay council tax

: Frank Mahon – fount of local knowledge at Carmyle Fords

: Feeding the pigeons

: Two guys posing for a picture in St Enoch’s Square

: At Eglinton Toll

: Tommy, Sunny Govan Radio

: Man waving from car, Saltmarket

: Man working in a skip

: Ricky’s bling and smoking hand

: Jim busking, Buchanan Street

: Outside Sunny Govan Radio

: Seven guys I met on the path to Duncolm

: Jim, Buchanan Street

: Young visitors to Crookston Castle

: Guy waiting outside Buchanan Street Subway Station

: A young guy looking for directions in Kinning Park

: Kerry and Mark kiss and make up

: Two men outside bar, Paisley Road West

: On the way to Duncolm

: Andy, George Square

: Young guy dishing out flyers on Govan Road

: Mark smoking outside bar, Paisley Road

: Young guy at Buchanan Street

: Brian McQuade

: Tony McGee, Steeplejack

: In the subway

: Two men outside bar, Paisley Road West

: Ricky, Buchanan Street

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)

: South Rotunda, Govan Road at Paisley Road Toll

: Donald Dewar statue, Buchanan Street – now on a raised plinth after being vandalised

: Old sign off Paisley Road West

: Caged CCTV on Shaw Street, Govan

: Entrance to Govan Town Hall, now Film City Glasgow

: Council-sponsored fly-posting sabotage at the Trongate

: 87A Linthaugh Road, where I lived from November 1966 to October 1977

: Security sign, Seaward Street, Kinning Park

: Glasgow SPT Subway train

: Harmony Row, Govan

: Site of M74 completion in June 2008

: Grand Ole Opry, Paisley Road Toll. Used to be the Birds and Bees disco in the 1960s

: Scottish Poetry Garden, Queen’s Park

: Govan Bus Station, Govan Cross

: Cambridge Street Car Park

: Burrell Museum, Pollok Estate

: View from Crookston Castle

: Orkney Street Police Station cells at Wine Alley aka Broomloan Road

: St Margaret Mary’s School, Stanley Street. The playground was on the roof

: Building, Milnpark Street, Kinning Park

: Ornate gate posts at the Govan Road entrance to Elder Park

: Ex Howdens Engineering Works, Scotland Street where my grandmother and mother worked

: Ex Gray, Dunn factory, Stanley Street. I used to beg for broken biscuits outside

: Old light on the Renfrew Street side of the Glasgow Film Theatre

: Dougrie Road, Castlemilk

: Admiral Street, Kinning Park

: Demolition near Crookston Castle, Brockburn Road, Pollok

: View from Crookston Castle. Taken shortly before demolition

: Entrance, St Enoch’s Square

: Scotland Street School. Where my mother attended in the 1940s

: Water Treatment Plant, Seaward Street, Kinning Park

: On the way to the Barras

: Govan Cross. Due for redevelopment

: Pillar, Lambhill Street Primary School, Kinning Park

: Pollok Community Centre I once – only once – attended Scottish Country Dancing

: Old insignia above ex-TSB bank, now a bookies

: Janitor’s house, Lambhill Street Primary School which I attended in the early 1960s

: Ex-Turner and Newall factory, Admiral Street, Kinning Park where my father worked

: The Angel Building, Paisley Road Toll

: Off Ardencraig Road, Castlemilk. I believe I met Fred West here

: Stanley Bar, Milnpark Street, Kinning Park

: Lyceum cinema, Govan. Surreal reproduction of itself on banner

: Wine Alley, Govan – the Potheid Building

: The original gatepost at Paisley Road Toll

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)

: John Knox Monument, Necropolis

: Humbie Road

: Ornate chimney stack, Ross Hall

: Dunwan Hill Fort

: Dumbarton Rock from the path to Duncolm and Loch Humphrey

: The top of Tinto Hill – aka – Tintock Top

: Humbie Road at the Devil’s Plantation

: Boulder marking at Camphill Earthwork

: Monument, Necropolis

: Interior, Crookston Castle

: Broken statue at the Necropolis

: Argyll Stone and St Conval’s Chariot, off the car park at the Normandy Hotel

: Dumgoyne

: View from Crookston Castle

: Provan Hall from the gardens

: Bell Tower, Rutherglen Old Parish Church

: Tower, Cathkin Braes at sunset

: Duncolm Hill

: Carved tree at the Ringwork, Pollok Estate

: Ross Hall

: Bonnyton Mound aka The Devil’s Plantation

: Indents on Bonnyton Mound

: Tinto Hill seen from Garf Water

: Monument with Egyptian carvings, Necropolis

: Headless angel, Necropolis

: Water Tower near Cochno

: Stanely Castle

: Castlehill at sunset

: Carmyle Fords

: Govan Old Parish Church

: Site of Nether Pollok Castle, Pollok Estate

: Tombstone, Renfrew Old Parish Church

: View from Cathkin Braes

: Carron Fords from the Bridge

: Site of Old Cathcart Castle

: The Craw Stane near Eaglesham

: Boulders at Camphill Earthwork

: Carron Fords

: Greenside reservoir near Duncolm

: Tinto Hill in alignment with Duncolm

: View from Necropolis looking south-west

: Rutherglen Old Parish Church

: Necropolis

: Victorian relief of Christ – ‘It is finished!’

: Woodend Loch looking north – now a SSSI

: Rutherglen bell tower

: Ringwork in the North Wood, Pollok Estate

: Gallowflats Mound

: Seraph, Allen Mausoleum, Necropolis

: Remains of Roman Fort at Antonine Wall

: Carron Bridge near the Fords

: View from the Tak Ma Doon Road Car Park

: Broken monument, Necropolis

: Bonnyton Moor

: Paisley Abbey

: Sundial on entrance arch to Rutherglen Old Parish Church

: Cast iron gravestone, Renfrew

: Crookston Castle

: Site of Castlemilk House

: Detail of entrance to Provan Hall

: Plastic wrapped boulders at the Ringwork, North Wood, Pollok Estate

: Tombstone, Necropolis

: Railway Bridge at Carmyle Fords

: Renfrew Old Parish Church

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)