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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.

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

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)

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

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)

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

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

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)

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