Day 91 Part 2: Central Station to Riverside Museum, Glasgow

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

5th April 2021: Part 2 takes us through the central part of Glasgow, along sections of the Mural Trail to Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis, then back through the city centre to see other places of interest to finish at the Riverside Museum on the Clyde where, tomorrow, we will make our way out of the city.

Route 24: Glasgow to Edinburgh

Glasgow’s Central Station opened in 1879 and is one of 2 stations in the centre, the other being Queen Street. The original station was extended between 1901-1905 after it was found to be too small. It has some beautiful architectural features including the sizeable glass-walled bridge over Argyle Street (at the Hielanman’s Umbrella). The Grand Central Hotel, formerly Central Hotel, was designed in the Queen Anne style and completed in 1883; it was extended along with the station. British Rail sold the hotel in the 1980s and, after several owners, reopened after refurbishment in 2010. You can take a behind the scenes tour of the station, should you want to learn more, and the concourse features a Piano Garden should you fancy a ‘tinkle on the ivories’ on your way through.

We walk Union Street to re-join Argyle Street, a shopping area in this section, and walk along to turn onto Dunlop Street where an entrance to St Enoch’s Centre sits at the end. We don't enter but turn left to walk along Osborne Street to view the Billy Connolly mural, before walking down Stockwell Street to the waterfront. We are here to see the Clutha Vaults Bar, whose name comes from Clutha, the Gaelic for ‘Clyde’. The bar has stood here since 1819, now standing alone but once part of a tenement building. It made headline news in 2013 when a police helicopter crashed through its roof killing 10 people. The bar partially reopened in 2015 and murals now cover the exterior walls, where the old bar was located, telling the history of the bar.

We turn up Bridgegate passing the Briggait Building, originally used as Glasgow's fish market until the late 1970s. It was converted into artists’ studios and an events space, reopening to the public in 2010. We are now in the Merchant’s City area of Glasgow, built by merchants who had become developers and were responsible for a lot of the old grand buildings seen in Glasgow today. The area has been recently redeveloped to become a shopping, leisure and residential area of the city with a ‘Covent Garden’ vibe. An annual Merchant’s City Festival takes place, celebrating creativity in the streets and venues of the area. At the end of the road, we turn right onto Saltmarket, once associated with wool production and not salt as the name suggests. A short walk down towards the river brings us to Glasgow Green.

Glasgow Green was granted to the people by James II in 1450; several ‘green’ areas along the river set aside for grazing livestock, swimming, drying nets and washing between the Molendinar and Camlachie Burns; it's the oldest park in the city. The first wash house, ‘steamie’, opened in 1732 and the Jacobite army camped here at the end of 1745. After the Napoleonic Wars, the Council remodelled the green and it has seen many activities of political and social persuasion. Michael Jackson played here to 65,000 people in 1992 as did many other musical acts. Given its place in Glasgow’s social history, there are many monuments and statues around the park. As we wander through, we pass under the MacLennan Arch to William Collins Fountain, then follow the tree-lined path to the 2014 Commonwealth Games ‘BigG’ sculpture, designed by Evolve, which sat in George’s Square during the Games.

We continue to follow the path past Nelson’s Monument (1806, in honour of Nelson) and James Watt’s Commemorative Boulder (1769), in memory of his great engineering achievements some of which were conceived near this spot, to reach the People’s Palace and Winter Garden. The Palace & Garden opened in 1898 as a cultural centre for the people of the east end who lived in unhealthy and overcrowded conditions. Today it is a social history museum telling stories of the city and its people from 1750-present.

The Winter Garden, a large glasshouse, is home to a wide variety of tropical plants, which has unfortunately been closed since 2018 due to concerns over the structure’s safety. Its future is in doubt due to repair costs estimated at £5-7 million and Friends of People’s Palace Winter Gardens & Glasgow Green are currently campaigning.

On a lighter note, as we walk away from the building to follow paths leading onto Greendyke Street, we see Doulton’s Fountain. It is believed to be the largest terracotta fountain in the world, presented by Henry Doulton (of Royal Doulton fame) for the 1888 International Exhibition in Kelvingrove Park. It was relocated to this spot in 1890 and, after restoration in 2004, is fully operational.

From Greendyke Street we cut through an alley onto Dyer’s Lane. The old in Italianate style building on our right is an old tannery and leather warehouse completed in 1877 for John Inglis & Co. We turn onto St Andrew’s Square at the end of the lane, where a fine Georgian parish church constructed between 1739-56 sits in the centre of the square. It was an elaborate church for an elaborate era, designed by Allan Dreghorn, architect to the Tobacco Lords, and is the 4th oldest church in the city today. In 1745, during its construction, the Jacobites camped inside on return from a failed invasion of England; the army also camping on Glasgow Green as previously mentioned. The building is now owned by the Glasgow Preservation Trust and run as a Centre for Traditional Scottish Music, Song and Dance with a cafe in the basement, called St Andrew’s on the Square.

We walk to the end of the road and cross onto Barrowlands Park, the home of Album Pathway. Arranged like albums on a shelf, artist Jim Lambie’s ‘Album Pathway’ was created in 2014, listing the names and dates of the bands that have played the famous ‘Barrowlands’ venue since 1983, brought to life by sculptor Russ Coleman. We aren't walking further down to our right today but if we continued, we would come to The Barras Market and the Barrowlands Ballroom.

The Barrowlands was founded by Margaret ‘Maggie’ McIver, known as the ‘Barras Queen’ in 1934. It is named after the Barras, Glasgow’s Barrowlands Market in the area. The original ballroom was destroyed by fire in 1958, rebuilt and reopened in 1960 and has become a major concert venue seeing many famous names play within its walls such as U2, Runrig, and Oasis. The Barras Market was also founded by James and Margaret ‘Maggie’ McIver, between the 2 World Wars, a major street and indoor weekend market, named after the Glaswegian word for the barrow or handcarts used by traders to sell their wares, ‘barras’. The area had always been used as an area for trading second-hand clothes and, it was from this background the McIvers came. Still a famous Glasgow institution to this day.

We now head down Gallowgate to what was once the medieval heart of Glasgow. Only a few remain of the old buildings from that time, and one sits on Trongate/High Street junction. Before 1500 the street was called St Thenew’s Gait, as it was the route to St Thenew’s Chapel, named after St Mungo’s mother.

In 1491 a trone or balance for weighing goods was set up at Glasgow Cross, where the Mercat Cross was situated. The area became known as Trongait, way to the trone, and is one of the oldest streets in the city. The tolbooth was first erected here at some point before 1530 and a larger replacement was built in 1625-7, of which the steeple remains. The steeple was once part of a much larger 7-storey building with offices and a prison. It once had spikes on its roof edge on which to display heads, as executions and punishments were carried out in this area. Most of the tolbooth was demolished in 1921, having been used for other services after the new tolbooth was built; the steeple, however, was retained. The Mercat cross that you see across the road is a replica of the one which once stood here. It was removed in 1659, no idea why, to be reinstated in 1930 as a gift by Dr William Black and his wife.

We walk down Saltmarket again, turn onto Parnie Street then New Wynd, spotting murals as we go. Back onto Trongate, we follow the Mural Trail up Hutcheson Street, onto Wilson Street, then Candleriggs. The Great Fire of Glasgow started in a house on High Street in June 1652, raging through Saltmarket, Trongate and Gallowgate. Most of the buildings in the area were constructed of timber and thatch, so the fire destroyed a third of the city. As a result of this, all candle makers were moved to the outskirts of the city, forming Candleriggs.

From Ingram Street we turn back onto High Street, following it up until we reach the Provand’s Lordship on Castle Street near the cathedral. This house is probably the second oldest in the city (the first being Provan Hall in the east end), built in 1471 by Andrew Muirhead, Bishop of Glasgow, as part of St Nicholas’ Hospital. It continued as a townhouse after the hospital was demolished, and by 1906 a family were living here running a sweet shop. It was purchased after World War 1 by The Provand’s Lordship Society who restored it to its 1700s state. It was passed to Glasgow City Council in 1978 as it required further restoration, reopening in 1983 as a medieval museum. St Nicholas’ Garden is also located behind the house.

Turning onto John Knox Street, we arrive at the Cathedral Precinct. To our left is St Mungo’s Museum, surprisingly, this was only constructed in 1993! It owes its existence to the Society of Friends of Glasgow Cathedral, who began the project but were unable to complete it, so Glasgow City Council did. The house is designed to reflect the building that would have been the Bishop’s Castle located here circa 1258. It was demolished in 1792, having been used to house over 350 Jacobite prisoners from the 1715 Uprising plus the 100 troops who guarded them. The replica contains art and artefacts that explore the importance of religion to people worldwide, promoting respect for different faiths.

We walk through the precinct, which has several monuments and statues, to enter the Cathedral. It is cared for by Historic Environment Scotland today although it is still a fully functioning church. Its founding dates to 550 AD when St Mungo founded a church on this site. The building on site today has sections dating back to the 12th century, with the main additions dating from the 14th century. It is one of the very few Scottish churches to survive the Scottish Reformation intact, as the people of Glasgow had protected the church from ruin. As we look around the upper church, we can see what so many other churches of that period lost. Outlaw King (2018) used the cathedral to represent Greyfriar’s Cathedral and the Lord’s Hall.

The cathedral’s most recent addition is the Millennium Window unveiled in 1999. It is recognised as one of the most technically demanding stained glass windows ever produced. Because it sits on the slope of a hill, this cathedral also has a unique feature: a lower church. Underneath the choir area is a beautifully vaulted space. St Mungo’s tomb is located here surrounded by some small chapels. It was here that Outlander (Season 2) used the building as a location for the L'Hopital des Anges, Paris.

From Cathedral Precinct, we could already see the tombstones of Glasgow’s Necropolis rising from the hillside. We approach it on the Bridge of Sighs, the route for funeral processions, and enter through the gates. When the fir plantation became a cemetery back in 1831, body snatching was an issue, hence the reason for a protected entrance. The Anatomy Act of 1832, which stopped the illegal trade of corpses, was passed the following year, so the protected entrance was no longer required.

Glasgow Necropolis was formed along the lines of the prestigious Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Over 50,000 people are buried here, the tombstones attesting to the wealth of some. It has resulted in the site becoming an outdoor museum to the leading architects of the time. The tallest monument is to John Knox, who isn't buried in the cemetery, but was placed here when the area was still ‘Fir Park’. The irony? John Knox now overlooks the one church not destroyed by the Scottish Reformation, in which he played such a key role. The new ‘The Batman’ film shot footage here in February 2020 so, when the film is released, look out for the Necropolis and Cathedral Square.

We walk back to the Cathedral Precinct through the churchyard, onto Cathedral Square Precinct and re-join High Street. We retrace our steps to turn onto George Street, where we see a modern interpretation of St Mungo in mural form completed in 2016 by Smug. As we walk along George Street, we can see it is very much part of the University of Strathclyde. The University dates to the forming of the Anderson Institute in 1796. John Anderson, Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow University, left instructions in his will to establish the Institute as a university, so Anderson University was born in 1828. It has had a few name changes since to become, as it is today in 1964, the first technological university in the UK. Specialising in business, science and engineering, it is home to 23,000 students from all over the world today. It was also named the Times Higher Education University of the Year in 2020.

Continuing along George Street we pass Glasgow City Chambers (1888), the headquarters of Glasgow City Council and its predecessors since 1889. It is located on George Square, a civic square named after George III and dates to 1781. Between 1787 and the 1820s the buildings went up around its perimeter and, over the years, monuments and statues have been added. The most important is the Cenotaph, designed by Sir John James Burnet, and originally built to commemorate Glaswegians killed in World War 1, unveiled in 1924 by Field Marshall Earl Haig. The Square has been updated a few times throughout the decades and is currently used for city events, political events and protests. George Street was used for filming scenes of ‘World War Z’ (2012) when the street and square stood in for the streets of Philadelphia. As we pass through here, access to Queen Street Station is located on North Hanover Street, just off the square.

At the end of West George Street, we bear right at St George’s Tron Parish Church (1808) onto the upper section of Buchanan Street where the Royal Concert Hall and Buchanan Galleries sit at the top end. The Concert Hall, designed by Sir Leslie Martin, opened in 1990 and is one of the largest in the UK, built to replace St Andrews Hall, which was destroyed by fire in 1962. In 1994, Nelson Mandela received the freedom to Glasgow here, entering to a standing ovation. The 50th anniversary of the D-Day Landings were also commemorated here by Bob Hope in 1994. The annual Celtic Connections Festival and the AyeWrite Book Festival are also held here. Buchanan Galleries shopping mall attached to the Concert Hall opened in 1999. In May 2002, a statue of Donald Dewar was unveiled in front of the Concert Hall on Buchanan Street. He was First Minister after the Scottish Parliament was re-established in 1999 after a 292-year absence.

We turn left onto Bath Street before we reach the very top of Buchanan Street, following the Mural Trail to the end of Cambridge Street. Looking along Cowcaddens Road to the right is the Conservatoire, National Piping Centre and Glasgow Caledonian University Campus. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland was established as the Glasgow Athenaeum in 1847. It has had a few names since that time, most recently changing its name from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama to recognise all the fields of study offered in dance, drama, music, production and film. The ‘My Peak Challenge’ (MPC) founder and coach, Sam Heughan, is an alumnus of the Conservatoire.

The National Piping Centre, located in a former Free Church, promotes the study and history of piping in Scotland, as well as other traditional instruments. Glasgow Caledonian University is the youngest university in Glasgow, established in 1993, and is the only place in the country where you can obtain an optometry degree. It also specializes, amongst others, in social sciences and NHS healthcare degrees.

We follow our route over the M8 now, to the Port Dundas area of Glasgow. Everyday Athlete, MPC coach John Valbonesi’s gym is based here on Borron Street, so we walk alongside Port Dundas Basin, now used for water sports, to attend a gym session.

Following our session with too many burpees, as usual, we retrace our steps back to Cambridge Street to turn onto Buccleuch Street then onto Scott Street. A little further down we come to the Glasgow School of Art, founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Government School of Design, but changed its name in 1853. The school has been on this site since 1869 and now has several buildings in the Garnethill area of Glasgow, including the MacLellan Galleries, Reid Building and Mackintosh Building. The Stow Building has recently been added to that list, opening in 2019 as a replacement for the current loss of the Mackintosh Building. The Mackintosh Building (1909), ‘The Mack’, was the heart of the campus, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who was a former pupil. A fire ripped through the building in 2014 and on nearing the end of its £35 million restoration was gutted again in 2018. It is currently being restored at a cost of over £100 million.

From Scott Street, we follow the trail down North Street past the Mitchell Library (1911), one of the largest in Europe. We continue down the street, a very traffic-heavy area, spotting a few murals as we walk. We reach the Clyde waterfront once more and bear right along Anderston Quay, retracing our steps to the Scottish Events Campus on the Clyde Walkway. We continue straight on past the Campus and the bridges we crossed earlier, past the Clydeside Distillery, established in 2017, to arrive at Glasgow Harbour.

The Riverside Museum is based here, home to Scotland’s Museum of Transport and Travel since 2011, once housed in Kelvin Hall which is now a multi-use sports and events venue. The Museum is located at Pointhouse Quay, a former A & J Inglis shipyard at Glasgow Harbour, and designed by the internationally renowned architect, Zaha Hadid.

The tall ship, the Glenlee, constructed in Port Glasgow in 1896, is also berthed here as part of the experience. She was discovered rotting in a Seville harbour in 1990, subsequently purchased by the Clyde Maritime Trust, and towed home. The PS Waverley also berths here when not in use, in the very place she was built in 1946. However, she is currently in dry dock for repair after colliding with a pier and damaging her bow in the summer of 2020.