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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.

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

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

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)

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

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

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)

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