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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.

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

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)

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

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

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)

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

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