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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.

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

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

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)

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

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)

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

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)

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