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.

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

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)

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

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

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)

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

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)

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