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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.

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

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)

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

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

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)

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

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)

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