Home
Blog
Films
•••
Voyageuse
The Devil's Plantation
Solid Air
One Life Stand
  • Home
  • Walks
  • Gallery
  • App

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.

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

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)

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

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

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)

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

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)

Farmfoods, Silverburn. Earmarked for closure, along with the Gala Bingo and the Credit Union
Tait’s Tower recreation – it never worked
Glasgow Fort Junction 10 off the M8
M74 Completion Roadworks – driving its way through south-side Glasgow communities
Looking north from the Arc Bridge
New building in New Gorbals
The SMG timeline runs out at 2007
Digital Media Centre, Pacific Quay. Subsidised offices for TV/Media companies
New apartments on the Clyde – many now to let
SMG Building, Pacific Quay, Govan Road
New houses at Gartloch Village – alien brick arrives in Scotland
Silverburn Shopping Centre, Pollok
A New Gorbals housing development
Another New Gorbals housing development
Sheriff Court
Detail of a New Gorbals housing development
The SMG logo as street furniture, off Pacific Quay
Shields Rd Subway car park, Scotland Street
Clyde Auditorium, aka the Armadillo. Generic silver-clad construction now seen in most cities
Side elevation of the SMG/STV Building, Pacific Quay
The Arc aka The Squinty Bridge, Govan Road. Closed for 6 months due to bad construction
Side street at Glasgow Fort
Glasgow Science Centre
A new development on Pollokshaws Road
Utopia, off Pollokshaws Road. Now available for rent
Rear of News International, Middlesex Street. Conspicuously heavy on security
Clock outside Buchanan Street Bus Station
© 2026 Elemental Films