Saturday 21 October 2017

Glasgow - another visit

My main postings from Glasgow were way back in October 2012, and I can't believe it is five years since I last visited the city.

The following is a quick snapshot of some further clocks - with apologies that it is not particularly comprehensive (due to lack of time) and that the pictures aren't that great (being taken on my phone). Hopefully time will permit one day soon to revisit and record more thoroughly.

Thanks goes to James McCarroll and Duncan I. McEwan whose book "Glorious Glasgow" (Fort Publishing Ltd 2014) pointed the way to some new discoveries.

The starting point is the Mitchell Library on North Street, by the intrusive, obnoxious (and definitely noxious) M8 motorway. Inside the library there are at least two of these clocks.


It is a pity that they are not maintained or generally loved, with one of them having to compete with a drinks machine for attention.


South of the Clyde to the west of Govan is the Southern General Hospital.


This was originally opened as the Govan Combination poorhouse in 1872, but is now part of a much wider hospital complex.








This next clock tower its rather incongruously all on its own within a residential area on Pleasance Street in Pollokshaws. It is not the sort of road I would normally venture up in the off chance of a sighting as it doesn't have that clock-potential feel, so this one is entirely thanks to "Glorious Glasgow".

"The Buildings of Scotland - Glasgow" (Penguin Books, 1990) describes it as "a fragment of the old Burgh Buildings of 1803".




Just as well that I did venture down Pleasance Street as I might not have found the next building, Burgh Hall, which due to poor map reading I had assumed to be further north that it is.






The building, on Pollokshaws Road, dates from 1898.


Not an architectural gem, but nevertheless with its own clock, is Shawlands Bowling Club also on Pollokshaws Road. New members welcome, so why not have a go.



This is where the lack of optical zoom on my camera phone becomes telling.


Onwards to Kilmarnock Road, and to Finlay's bar on the corner of Millwood Street.


The large 'F' addition makes this otherwise somewhat ordinary clock into something quite interesting.




Back onto Pollokshaws Road, and at the junction with Langside Avenue we find two clocks on opposite sides of the road. On the west side is that of Di Maggio's:





And on the east side is the clock on what now appears to be called the butterfly and the pig, but is located in the old Corona Bar which dates from 1913.





Taking a turning down Langside Avenue, we continue onto Battlefield Road. The junction between the two roads is Battle Place, with a large column commemorating the battle of Langside of 1568.

But of course I am more interested in the clock on Wearwell Upholstery at the junction with Overdale Gardens (not actually true as it is a fine monument which is well worth a visit).



Just a little further up the road, and another tip-off from "Glorious Glasgow" is the Battlefield Rest. Although sounding much more dramatic that it actually is (with images of exhausted knights, massive war horses, and piles of armour stacked up against the walls) it is still an interesting building.


The building was, in fact, originally a tramcar shelter of 1915, and now a restaurant.






Time now for some big tall stuff. This is (or rather was) Pollokshields West Free Church on Shields Road (and I have to be careful to differentiate my Pollokshaws from my Pollokshields, which are next door to each other).


The church dates from 1879, but is now the Rowandale Nursing Home. I wonder if any of the residents climb the tower?





Looking down Shields Road towards the city centre, we can see another big tall pointy thing. This time it is Pollokshields Church on the corner of Albert Drive, dating from 1878.








Back now into the city centre. On New City Road, just within the M8 "ring" is Dundas Court.


This was build in 1837 as Scotland's first teacher training college. It was originally the Free Normal Seminary, the becoming the Dundas Vale Teachers' Centre, and I am not sure what it now is.








We are on Sauchiehall Street now, and in particular the junction with Hope Street.



Another Italian eatery, this time Via Italia.



And finally, a standard Rolex clock on Watches of Switzerland on Buchanan Street / Sauchiehall
Street.




I get the feeling that there are a lot more clocks lurking in the suburbs of Glasgow, so I had better start planning a longer return visit.