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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.

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

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

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)

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

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

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)

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