The City of Glasgow

Gaelic ~ Glaschu ( Dear Green Place)

By Ian Stewart

The motto shown on the City's Coat of Arms is 'Let Glasgow Flourish', which is a shortened version of the inscription on a bell which was made for the Tron Kirk in 1637.

'Lord let Glasgow flovrichse throvgh the preaching of thy word and priasing thy name'.

The shield includes four emblems, a bird, a tree, a bell and a fish.

Here is the Bird that never flew
Here is the Tree that never grew
Here is the Bell that never rang
Here is the Fish that never swam

These four items relate to legends which tell how Saint Mungo, Glasgow's patron saint, performed four religious miracles. Mungo is also sometimes referred to by his less well known name of Saint Kentigern.

A Brief History of Glasgow

Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, has a long history, there are even traces of Stone Age fishing communities at this point on the River Clyde. Around 80AD, before the construction of the Antonine Wall, which stretched from the Clyde to the Forth, the Romans had a trading post in Cathures, which was the earlier name for Glasgow.

Celtic druids were among the first identifiable religious tribes to inhabit the area. St Kentigern arrived in the 6th century and settled in Glasgow to establish his Christian church on the banks of the Molendinar Burn, a tributary of the Clyde, where Glasgow Cathedral now stands. Such was his great popularity that he was named Mungo meaning 'dear one'.

In the 12th century, under the rule of King David I of Scotland, Glasgow became a bishopric with John Capellanus, chaplain and close confident of the king, becoming the first Bishop of Glasgow. In 1175, Bishop Jocelin secured a charter from King William I of Scotland making Glasgow a burgh of barony, thereby opening up its doors to trade. By the late 12th century Glasgow's population had reached around 1,500, making it an important settlement. In 1238 work began on Glasgow Cathedral, symbolising the city's growing role as a major ecclesiastical centre.

In 1450 James II issued a chapter to the Bishop 'erecting all his patrimony into a regality' meaning that Glasgow was now a Royal Burgh in all but name. Later that same year Glasgow Green became Glasgow's first public park. In the following year, 1451, the University of Glasgow was founded by Bishop Turnbull at its original site in the High Street (College) making it the second oldest university in Scotland and the fourth oldest in the UK. In 1471 Provand's Lordship, now Glasgow's oldest surviving house, was built directly opposite the Cathedral building. Elevated to an archbishopric in 1492, Glasgow, by the end of the 15th century had become a powerful academic and ecclesiastical centre rivalled only by St Andrews.

When, following the Reformation, Glasgow's last Roman Catholic archbishop, James Beaton, fled to Paris in 1560, his exile marked a significant move towards greater civic power and the emerging influence of the city's merchants and craftsmen. In 1639 the National Covenant was confirmed by the General Assembly of the Kirk at Glasgow Cathedral. The Covenant was crucial in hastening the end of the authority of Charles I, leading to his execution in 1649. By that year, Glasgow had become the country's fourth largest burgh, and by 1670 it was second largest behind only Edinburgh.

The first cargo of tobacco arrived in Glasgow in 1674, although foreign trade can be traced back to the 1530s. Following the Treaty of Union in 1707, trade with the colonial New World increased and large quantities were being shipped in from the American tobacco states, especially Virginia. Glasgow's merchants in turn had contracts to supply Europe. By 1730 this trade with America was fully established, and Glasgow's tobacco lords had cornered the market, in the process becoming Glasgow's (and Scotland's) first millionaires.

By 1772, thanks to a scheme devised by civil engineer John Golborne and supervised by James Watt, one of the pioneers of the steam engine, layers of silt had been flushed from 19 miles of the shallow Clyde river bed, allowing large vessels to sail right up the river into the city for the first time. This radical transformation of the river, and the establishment of Port Glasgow near Greenock, was the catalyst for Glasgow's subsequent 'golden age' of shipbuilding and heavy industry.

Following the American Revolution the tobacco trade went into decline and investors suffered. However, many shrewd Glaswegians had diversified into trade with the West Indies, importing sugar and making rum, and by the end of the 18th century Glasgow had become Britain's biggest importer of sugar. Many of Glasgow's street names still bear testament to this lucrative overseas trade, amongst these being India Street, Virginia Street, Jamaica Street and Tobago Street.

At the start of the 19th century, Glasgow's population increased dramatically, as deposed immigrants from the Highlands in the 1820s and thousands fleeing from the potato famine in Ireland in the 1840s arrived in the city. Large numbers of other immigrants, Jewish, Italian and East European were also attracted to the city and contributed greatly to the economy and local community. Many of them were employed in the cotton industry which, at its height, employed almost one third of Glasgow's huge workforce. But like the tobacco industry before it, external factors, especially the American Civil War of 1861, had an adverse affect.

Glasgow then turned to a wide range of heavy industries, such as shipbuilding, locomotive construction and engineering, which could thrive on the supplies of iron ore and the coal seams of Lanarkshire to fuel the ironworks. Glasgow now ranked as one of the finest and richest cities in Europe. It had more parks and open spaces than any other European city of similar size and had a regulated telephone system, water and gas supply. In the past, it had been referred to as the 'Emporium of the World'. Now it was truly 'The Second City of the Empire'.

However, in the 20th century, Glasgow suffered huge industrial decline after WWI when there was a downturn in both shipbuilding and locomotive manufacturing demand and the economic situation in the 1930s resulted in Glasgow being classed as a 'depressed area'. Pre-WWI, Glasgow had produced almost one fifth of the world's ships and one quarter of all locomotives in use anywhere in the world. After WWII, the need to replace lost shipping vessels slowed the industrial slump, but it was only a respite. By the 1950s, the demand for merchant and navy ships had dwindled drastically and overseas competitors with much cheaper labour costs were emerging.

Today, in the 21st century, almost all of the shipyards on the River Clyde have gone. Houses now stand where, in the glory days, many of the world's greatest ocean liners first took to water, including the three famous Cunard Queens ~ RMS Queen Mary, RMS Queen Elizabeth and RMS Queen Elizabeth II.

Glasgow's population peaked in 1931 at just under 1.1 million and for over 40 years remained over 1 million. However, in the post-war years the population declined, due to relocation of people to the 'new towns' such as East Kilbride and Glenrothes, which were built in the 1940s, and Cumbernauld, Livingston and Irvine, built in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The 2001 census showed a population of 629,500.

Glasgow is the only city in Scotland, and only one of three in the UK, to have an underground railway system. Unlike the other two, Glasgow's running lines are completely underground. Opened in 1896, it is the third-oldest underground metro system in the world. Finally accepting the refusal of Glaswegians to refer to it by the title of 'Underground', the name was changed back to the original, and more popular, name of the 'Subway' in 2003. There's an urban legend that it's nick-named the 'Clockwork Orange' but that name isn't generally used by the locals.

Edinburgh, known to all Glaswegians as 'Embra, being the capital city of Scotland and home of the Scottish Parliament, is probably better known to tourists. However, I, being a native Glaswegian, would claim that Glasgow has architecture and attractions to rival those of our neighbours to the East. Many of the buildings in Glasgow were designed by notable Scottish architects such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh, William Young and Alexander 'Greek' Thomson.

It is often also said that the natives of Glasgow are more friendly and outgoing to strangers. Urban Legend has it that if you are spotted consulting a map in Glasgow, before very long, someone is almost certain to stop and try to help you with directions, offer advice on sightseeing or shopping or even guide you to your destination. Whether this is 100% true or not, it certainly makes a good story !

Some Glasgow Links

Glasgow City Council	The Mitchell Library
Glasgow Museum of Transport	The Burrell Collection
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum	Books of Photographs of Glasgow

Some Glasgow photographs for all the exiled 'Keelies'

Panorama over the city center rooftops

George Square and the City Chambers

View from the Science Tower towards the City Center

The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (referred to by Glaswegians as 'The Armadillo')

The Kingston Bridge carries the M8 motorway over the river Clyde

The view downriver, the Science Tower on the left, the North Rotunda on the extreme right

The Mitchell Library, this is the largest public reference library in Europe

View from the Tower of the University, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in the foreground

Glasgow Cathedral which dates from the 13th century

M8 motorway looking south, the building with the green dome is the old SCWS Head Office

M8 motorway looking North, at the Charing Cross underpass

The Subway, opened in 1896, has never been expanded from the original length of 6.5 miles (10.4 km)

The Rotunda. Originally the North end of the Clyde Harbour Tunnels, opened in 1895

The High Court of Glasgow

Saint Andrew's in the Square

St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art stands on the site of the medieval Bishop's Castle

The Finnieston or Stobcross Crane, built in 1926 with a lifting capacity of 175 tons

Clockwise ~ Mitchell Library | Kelvingrove Museum | City Chambers | The Squinty Bridge

Argyle Street looking towards Glasgow Cross and Hutcheson Street and Hutcheson Hall

The Tron Steeple and the Tolbooth Steeple at Glasgow Cross

The 'Heilanman's Umbrella' and the Washington Flour Mills (now demolished)

The Barras, a weekend pilgrimage for generations of Glaswegians

Great Western Road at Queen Margaret Drive in the 1950s, a 'shoogly' tramcar heads for the city

Can you remember when St Enoch Square looked like this ? Again, the 1950s

Well, that's all for this page. Unfortunately I can't claim many of the photos as my own but the selection is probably the better for that.