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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.

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

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

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)

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

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)

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

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)

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