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.

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

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

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)

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

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)

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

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