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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.

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

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)

Stanley Bar, Milnpark Street, Kinning Park
Wine Alley, Govan – the Potheid Building
Water Treatment Plant, Seaward Street, Kinning Park
Govan Bus Station, Govan Cross
Entrance, St Enoch’s Square
Scottish Poetry Garden, Queen’s Park
Harmony Row, Govan
South Rotunda, Govan Road at Paisley Road Toll
Janitor’s house, Lambhill Street Primary School which I attended in the early 1960s
Pollok Community Centre I once – only once – attended Scottish Country Dancing
Pillar, Lambhill Street Primary School, Kinning Park
Burrell Museum, Pollok Estate
The original gatepost at Paisley Road Toll
Cambridge Street Car Park
Entrance to Govan Town Hall, now Film City Glasgow
Old insignia above ex-TSB bank, now a bookies
View from Crookston Castle. Taken shortly before demolition
Site of M74 completion in June 2008
Building, Milnpark Street, Kinning Park
Old sign off Paisley Road West
Orkney Street Police Station cells at Wine Alley aka Broomloan Road
Admiral Street, Kinning Park
Scotland Street School. Where my mother attended in the 1940s
Glasgow SPT Subway train
Ornate gate posts at the Govan Road entrance to Elder Park
Council-sponsored fly-posting sabotage at the Trongate
On the way to the Barras
St Margaret Mary’s School, Stanley Street. The playground was on the roof
Demolition near Crookston Castle, Brockburn Road, Pollok
Donald Dewar statue, Buchanan Street – now on a raised plinth after being vandalised
The Angel Building, Paisley Road Toll
Dougrie Road, Castlemilk
Govan Cross. Due for redevelopment
Ex Gray, Dunn factory, Stanley Street. I used to beg for broken biscuits outside
Ex-Turner and Newall factory, Admiral Street, Kinning Park where my father worked
Old light on the Renfrew Street side of the Glasgow Film Theatre
View from Crookston Castle
Lyceum cinema, Govan. Surreal reproduction of itself on banner
87A Linthaugh Road, where I lived from November 1966 to October 1977
Security sign, Seaward Street, Kinning Park
Grand Ole Opry, Paisley Road Toll. Used to be the Birds and Bees disco in the 1960s
Caged CCTV on Shaw Street, Govan
Ex Howdens Engineering Works, Scotland Street where my grandmother and mother worked
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 with Egyptian carvings, Necropolis
Carron Fords
Ringwork in the North Wood, Pollok Estate
Railway Bridge at Carmyle Fords
Indents on Bonnyton Mound
The Craw Stane near Eaglesham
The top of Tinto Hill – aka – Tintock Top
Carved tree at the Ringwork, Pollok Estate
Interior, Crookston Castle
Tinto Hill seen from Garf Water
Necropolis
Paisley Abbey
View from the Tak Ma Doon Road Car Park
Govan Old Parish Church
Rutherglen bell tower
Carron Fords from the Bridge
Tombstone, Necropolis
Greenside reservoir near Duncolm
Bell Tower, Rutherglen Old Parish Church
Water Tower near Cochno
View from Crookston Castle
Stanely Castle
Castlehill at sunset
Victorian relief of Christ – ‘It is finished!’
Dunwan Hill Fort
Ornate chimney stack, Ross Hall
Plastic wrapped boulders at the Ringwork, North Wood, Pollok Estate
Woodend Loch looking north – now a SSSI
View from Necropolis looking south-west
Cast iron gravestone, Renfrew
Detail of entrance to Provan Hall
Dumgoyne
Bonnyton Moor
Ross Hall
Humbie Road
Sundial on entrance arch to Rutherglen Old Parish Church
John Knox Monument, Necropolis
Provan Hall from the gardens
View from Cathkin Braes
Humbie Road at the Devil’s Plantation
Renfrew Old Parish Church
Broken statue at the Necropolis
Dumbarton Rock from the path to Duncolm and Loch Humphrey
Crookston Castle
Site of Castlemilk House
Boulders at Camphill Earthwork
Remains of Roman Fort at Antonine Wall
Seraph, Allen Mausoleum, Necropolis
Gallowflats Mound
Tinto Hill in alignment with Duncolm
Bonnyton Mound aka The Devil’s Plantation
Site of Old Cathcart Castle
Monument, Necropolis
Tower, Cathkin Braes at sunset
Argyll Stone and St Conval’s Chariot, off the car park at the Normandy Hotel
Carmyle Fords
Broken monument, Necropolis
Headless angel, Necropolis
Tombstone, Renfrew Old Parish Church
Rutherglen Old Parish Church
Carron Bridge near the Fords
Duncolm Hill
Boulder marking at Camphill Earthwork
Site of Nether Pollok Castle, Pollok Estate

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)

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

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