THE STORY
Why walk this trail?
Walking backwards
Starting the walk beside the Clyde
Glasgow Green
St Andrews Churches 1 & 2
Glasgow Cross
Up the High Street
The Necropolis
The Cathedral
George Square Panoramic view
< Back to Scotland intro page with list of other walks
Why walk this trail?
After an old friend, Andrew Lyon, passed on to me the information contained in the Summary about this walk through Glasgow a few months ago, I've been wanting to walk it.
I work in Glasgow a couple of days most weeks, and periodically thought that I ought to find time to walk the walk. After all, I was walking from Queen Street Station to the office on Broomielaw anyway, so why not make a (quite lengthy) diversion? So last week I did, putting of my lunch hour and then using the time to do the walk.
Andrew had given me a copy of the booklet written by Ronnie Scott, available from the Centre for Population Health, describing the trail. The Centre has been set up to tackle the problem of health inequality in Glasgow, which has some of the worst rates for serious diseases anywhere in Europe, to which poverty, social disadvantage, poor housing and unhealthy lifestyles all make a contribution. This trail is being promoted by the Centre to raise the profile of health issues, show how they have been successfully addressed in the past through improved housing, sanitation etc, and encourage more people to take some exercise.
It also takes walkers through some of the most historic parts of the city, on an easy downhill route, with the opportunity to stop off at pubs and restaurants in the Merchant City during or after the walk.
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Walking backwards
I was amused to read in the Guardian the other day about a new sport of running backwards. Apparently it's easier on the joints and sharpens the mind. You can't loose concentration or you bump into a lamp-post or fellow runner! (See the article for yourself!)
Anyway, the point is that in order to complete the trail and get to the station in time for the 15.42 to Dundee, I couldn't go all the way up to the Cathedral to start it. I had to hurry along the northern bank of the River Clyde to Glasgow Green, and start from the finish, then walk it backwards.
Whichever way you walk it, you'll find it worth the effort (which is slightly more going uphill from the river to the Cathedral). If you work in Glasgow too, then why not walk it during your lunch hour, or after work one day? If you have a favourite walk of your own in Glasgow, then let us know.
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Starting beside the Clyde
I had left the shiny new office buildings of Atlantic Quay, on the Broomielaw, behind me, and hurried along the riverside. There's a cycleway along some of the route, but it's pretty bumping as a footpath, although there are some interesting sights. Last Wednesday it was a warm sticky day, and lots of people were out enjoying the sunshine. After walking under the first railway bridge and admiring the stonework, I noticed the statue to La Passionara, commemorating the volunteers who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War (below),
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and the decorative stonework at the top of one of the surviving older buildings next to Atlantic Quay.
I knew I was close to the start (or finish) of the trail, when I saw the Glasgow Nautical College building on the other side of the river. It wasn't very photogenic, and nor was Albert Bridge which spanned the river here. However, the trail booklet makes them interesting by stating that the college was built on the site of a 14th century leper hospital, and the bridge is the last bridge over the tidal river Clyde.
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Glasgow Green
Across the road was the entrance to Glasgow Green, the oldest of Glasgow's 70 parks and the location for Glasgow's first wash-house opened in 1732. The fine McLellan Arch was actually removed from its original location in Ingram Street in 1893. (There's much more fascinating background in the trail booklet, from which these few facts are gleaned).
Behind the Arch was the Collins Fountain, commemorating the publisher Sir William Collins, and then to the left a bright and busy children's playpark - so if you have persuaded your kids to accompany you on the walk down from the Cathedral, they can use up what's left of their energy here!
My abiding memories of Glasgow Green are as the venue for the finish of the Glasgow Half Marathon (the Great Scottish Run) , which I took part in a few times when I was younger and fitter. The race is still run and, I think, attracts the largest number of entrants of any half marathon in Scotland - 19,326 entered in 2005 apparently. You can read more (and enter) on the race website. It's the 25th anniversary event this year (2006) on September 3rd.
Looking across the grass through young trees, I could see the glazed People's Palace in the middle of the Green. Away on the north side of the Green, according to the booklet, are houses built for the Homes for the Future project as a result of Glasgow's role as European City of Culture in 1999. However I didn't realise this until afterwards, as I was hurrying along with a camera in one hand and was unable to check the booklet in sufficient detail.
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St Andrews Churches 1 & 2
I did however spot the church on a street corner, which is St Andrews by the Green, an Episcopalian Church built in 1751. It was known as "the whistlin' kirk" due to having an organ, banned in Presbyterian churches at the time.
At this point I headed back to the Saltmarket, which runs past the western end of the Green, and noticed the neo-Grecian columns of the High Court buildings across the road, completed in 1814. Then I realised I was supposed to walk up past the church, to the next point on the trail. This was St Andrews in the Square, completed in 1756 in the style of St Martin's in the Fields in London. The square around the church was as impressive as the church itself, presumably reflecting the wealth of the Tobacco Lords who used to worship here.
"Let Glasgow Flourish" motto and emblem
on the front of the church
Across the street a mechanical digger was clearing a site ready for some new development - just one of several reconstruction sites which I passed during this walk. I had to pass this on the way back to Saltmarket, one of Glasgow's oldest streets, named after the market for salt used to cure salmon from the Clyde. It's also now one of Glasgow's busiest, with a constant flow of traffic.
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Glasgow Cross
There was a view up to the Tolbooth Steeple at Glasgow Cross , and as I approached it I also noticed the Mercat Cross (aparently a replica erected in 1929) and a market building behind. This wasn't mentioned in the booklet, so I wasn't sure whether it had historic significance. However, the Steeple was used to hold prisoners before trial, and public hangings took place here until 1814.
Looking west from here along Trongate from the central island, the steeple of the Tron Theatre was prominent on the left, and a mock Gothic tower on the right at the entrance to the Merchant City. Various markets were held in this area in the past; now it's an up-and-coming area of restaurants and bars. I turned up this way, rather than continuing past the Tolbooth Steeple directly up High Street, to take in part of the Merchant City – as many other visitors to Glasgow like to do. On the way past the Tron Theatre I noticed a small statue of a boy adorning its edifice (below).
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Crossing the road I started up Albion Street. Here, as elsewhere in Glasgow (and most other towns and cities) it was worth looking up at the tops of the buildings, where the architects usually include their more interesting features. As on the front of St Andrews in the Square, I spotted a "Let Glasgow Flourish" design in the red sandstone (below).
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Further along on the left was the corner of one of the old markets, now converted into a collection of restaurants and shops. There are plenty more to choose from in the Merchant City area, putting the fine old Victorian buildings to modern uses.
The next turning to the right took me along a narrow street that was undergoing roadworks – like several others in the area. On the far side of the street hung the sign for Babbity Bowster, a former merchant’s house of 1790 that is now a busy bar and restaurant. Unfortunately I’ve not managed to get to know very many different bars around Glasgow, but certainly remember an evening here a few years ago when I was one of a group who enjoyed a couple of pints followed by discussions in the restaurant about the meaning of “happiness” in modern society. It was a fascinating discussion with people I’d never met before! I also seem to recall we finished up there on a Christmas night out from the office!
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Up the High Street
Just past Babbity Bowsters I reached the High Street and turned left. There were big new appartment buildings on the other side; one bore a stone relief and an inscription (see photo), indicating that this was Blackfriars, the location of Glasgow University from 1470 to 1870 (see below).
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I didn’t notice No 215 High Street, the former British Linen Bank building, referred to in the booklet, but was impressed by the red sandstone buildings standing ahead of me at the fork of High Street and Duke Street. These “were built by the City Improvement Trust, which was set up in 1866 to clar slums, improve old streets and lay out new ones, build homes and provide a new park for the north-east of the city…This wholesale sweeping away of the overcrowded and unsanitary housing in the city centre shows the importance of city planning to public health,” it says in the booklet.
There’s quite a bit of information in the booklet as well about Duke Street Prison – only the wall now remains, on the east side of High Street adjacent to a grassy area. The road continued gradually uphill, bending round to the left. It reached a junction with a street known by the rather unappealing name of “Rottenrow”. Apparently this was once the location of the town cross for the religious settlement at the top of the hill, and for a number of medical institutions over the years since. The latest of these was the Royal Maternity Hospital, the site of which has been transformed into a landscaped area.
The striking red sandstone church at this junction isn’t mentioned in the booklet – I took a couple of photos of it, together with the wider prospect looking up the High Street towards the Cathedral (see panorama below), but I didn’t find out exactly what it is - it's marked on a detailed map as "Barony", but this seems to confuse it with the next building covered below.
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Necropolis
I was running out of time to catch my train, but was nearing the end (or start) of the trail. Now on the right was an area of parkland with trees enclosed by fences and criss-crossed by paths. Over to the right was a fine building with classical statues silhouetted on the top of the wall (pictured below) – again, it’s not mentioned in the booklet, but after checking a more detailed map it seems to be the former Barony Church, now used as the main hall for Strathclyde University Graduation Ceremonies.
I walked diagonally across the parkland towards another older building (at least it was built in Scottish baronial style), now used as a hotel. The street ran downhill here, and on the other side was the gatehouse beside one of the entrances to the Necropolis. A roadway ran across a bridge towards a carved stone wall, with an archway in the centre bearing an inscription (below). It indicates that the bridge was built in 1833 by the Merchants House of Glasgow to improve access to the Necropolis.
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Paths led off from here, to right and left. There was only time for a few quick photos, of a couple of the old gravestones and the view across to the Cathedral. Another roadway ran down past lines of gravestones towards more modern medical buildings.
It would have been easy to spend half an hour wandering around the Necropolis, reading the stories on the headstones, but I’d have had to settle for the later train. So I headed back over the bridge and past the front of the Cathedral, where a group of tourists were getting a historical lecture. The booklet says it was founded by St Mungo in the 7th century, the present structure was built between the 13th and 15th centuries, and it is the only mainland Scottish cathedral to have survived the Reformation in 1560 intact. There’s lots more historical background to this area, and the supply of water to the city from Loch Katrine 30 miles away in 1860.
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Continuing past the Cathedral, High Street / Castle Street bends around the front of the Royal Infirmary, completed in 1914. There were many medical innovations in this building and its predecessor, and a statue commemorates David Livingstone who left here for Africa after qualifying as a doctor in 1840.
Not far from the front of the Cathedral was St Mungo’s Museum of Religion, built in Scottish baronial style, providing the starting point for many groups of visitors to the city. Across the road, Provand’s Lordship is the oldest surviving house in the city, built in 1471.
Behind it is St Nicholas Garden, built in 1995 as a recreation of a medieval cloistered garden.
I didn’t get to look around the garden, or any of these buildings for that matter, but they reminded me that I need to spend a bit more time on a future visit to Glasgow to go round the museums and learn a bit more about the history of the city. The Health Pioneers Trail and booklet had given me a good (if rushed) introduction.
George Square
It was a warm sticky afternoon, but I had to continue in a hurry along Cathedral Street and down to George Square. One final photo of people enjoying the sunshine in the square, in front of the City Hall, before dashing into Queen Street Station for the train.
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This story draws on historical information from the Trail booklet, "Pioneering the Health of the City", by Ronnie Scott,
published 2005 by Glasgow Centre for Population Health
Tel: 0141 221 9439
< Back to Scotland intro page with list of other walks
Contributed by: Andrew Llanwarne - June 2006
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The former market, now home to restaurants and shops
