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

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)

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

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

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

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