Correctly called Glasgow City, Glasgow has developed a reputation and become known as the ‘Friendly City’ and is the largest city in Scotland, although not the capital!! It is located on the Clyde River in the country’s west central lowlands area in the Strathclyde Region, and is home to approximately 2.3 million residents. Once a major industrial town during the ‘industrial revolution’ of the 19th century, Glasgow has maintained its manufacturing industries and has today developed a more diversified economy. Although considered to be still the major shipbuilding centre in the U.K it is also one of Europe’s major financial centres and home to many of Scotland’s leading businesses. Considered to be a major European cultural centre due to its extensive programme of festivals and sporting events, and being the second most popular tourist destination in Scotland with an estimated 3 million visitors per year, Glasgow offers a diverse range of interest for the visitor. From its 13 free museums and galleries such as the renowned Kelvingrove and Hunterian Art Galleries and the Burrell Collection, 70 parks and gardens, the second largest retail centre in the U.K. and a vibrant night life to an architecturally interesting urban area and attractions such as the ‘Tall Ship of Glasgow’, the city has something of interest for everyone.
Glasgow was founded in the 6th century by St Kentigern, also known as St Mungo, who built a small wooden church here in AD 543. In the 12th century a cathedral was raised around the tomb of St Mungo, which was named for him, and this in turn was considerably restored in the 19th century, including some interesting modern stained-glass. The tomb and well of the 6th century saint are within the cathedral and, until the Reformation, when the Presbyterians ‘purged’ it of its ‘idolatry’, it was considered a place of pilgrimage. The University was founded in 1451, and classes initially were held in the crypt of the cathedral before the college was built in the High Street. It moved to its Gilmorehill site in 1870, taking part of the old college façade with it to build the lodge.
The city’s commercial enterprise began in the 17th century, when the local merchant’s endeavoured to dominate trade with the New World. The 19th century saw the expansion of trade, when the Lanarkshire coalfields provided the power required to set up heavy engineering and shipbuilding. The River Clyde had been widened and deepened as far as the city, allowing access to the western seas and changing the city from and ecclesiastical centre and seat of learning into an industrial giant. With the industry, came the bleakest of social conditions and the birth of the slums. The working people were forced to acquire qualities of fortitude and survive the harsh conditions which are still apparent in their characters today. In the 20th century the slum areas were cleared and new housing developments have replaced them. The city Centre is predominantly Victorian but there are a number of buildings in the ‘modern’ style, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, including his 1896 masterpiece, the Glasgow School of art in Renfrew Street. At the Hunterian Art Gallery in Hillhead Street, there is a reconstruction of the interiors of his own home at 78, Southpark Avenue, which is well worth a visit. The Art Gallery also has a major Whistler collection and the University’s museum and art treasures. The Art Gallery and Museum, in Kelvingrove Park, was built from the profits of the International Exhibition of 1888 and includes collections of pottery, porcelain, costumes, armour, paintings and sculpture, as well as having natural history and archaeology departments. There are a number of public parks in the city including, perhaps the prettiest, Linn Park on the banks of the White Cart Water. It has a nature trail and a children’s zoo.
Other sites, in the city, worthy of mention –
Botanic Gardens, opened to the public in 1891, has a spectacular series of linked glass domes known as the Kibble Palace. Originally a conservatory of a mansion house on Loch Long.
Park Terrace, on the summit of Woodland’s Hill overlooking Kelvingrove Park, one of the most elegant designs in the City.
The People’s Palace on the Glasgow Green, a museum of domestic history, has relics of Sir Thomas Lipton, the city’s grocer-hero.
Provan hall, a 15th century mansion house of a minor laird, now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.
The Necropolis, one of Glasgow’s oddities, next door to St Mungo’s Cathedral, where anyone who was anyone in Victorian Glasgow was buried.
The Tenement House in Buccleuch Street, a tiny flat of a Glasgow typist as it was from 1911 to 1965, in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.
Other places of interest within 30 kilometres –
Loch Lomond, 25 kilometres north-west of the city, Britain’s largest lake lies surrounded by wooded, pastoral country. Steamer trips are available on the lake and offer the best viewing.
Blantyre, 15 kilometres south-east, birthplace of David Livingstone, the explorer and missionary. He was born in 1813 in a cottage in Shuttle Row which is now a national memorial museum to him.
Paisley, 10 kilometres west, grew around a Cluniac abbey but is better known for its ‘paisley shawls’. The town’s Museum and Art Gallery has a priceless collection of the famous shawls, whose pattern was introduced from Kashmir in 1770.
Dumbarton, 20 kilometres north-west of Glasgow, the ancient capital of the Celtic Kingdom of Strathclyde, dominated by its castle towering above the River Clyde.
Hill House at Helensburgh, 30 kilometres north-west, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh who supervised every detail. Owned by the National Trust for Scotland.
Did you know that – William Miller, who wrote ‘Wee Willie Winkie’ was buried in 1872 in the Necropolis, the cemetery full of monuments to Glasgow merchants?
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