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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.

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

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

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

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)

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

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)

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