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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.

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

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)

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

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)

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

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)

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

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