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

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

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)

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

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)

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

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