Gallowgate, south side between Wesleyan St and Orr St. The unassuming entry to St Thomas’ Methodist Church, which was better viewed from Wesleyan St. In Neil and Machin’s window can be seen in reverse the letters ORIE - at my back was the Orient Cinema, at the corner of Sword St. A bingo hall from 1965 to 1995 it was only lost to fire in 2004. February 1976
Wesleyan St, west side. St Thomas’ (thought to be an early work of John Baird I, c1825) was built as a chapel of ease for St John’s Burgh Church, but with the Disruption of 1843 leading to greatly reduced congregations for the established church this building became redundant and was sold to the Wesleyan Methodists, from whom the street took its name. It was popularly known as the Potters’ Kirk, from the number of the congregation employed in that trade - the large Annfield Pottery was just across the Gallowgate, indeed the Orient Cinema was built on the site of it. The bell-tower originally carried a small spire, which would have much improved the presence of the building. St Thomas’ closed its doors in 1973. February 1976
Interior of St Thomas’. I didn’t (too chicken) make a habit of entering derelict buildings, in fact I probably just poked the camera through a window here.
Wesleyan St, west side, a curiously country-town scene not 100 yards from the Gallowgate. This was built in 1859 as a wire works for W. Riddell & co. February 1976
Gallowgate, north side opposite Fielden St. Southwest corner of The Forge complex now. March 1976
Gallowgate, north side somewhere in Camlachie. Can anyone say just where? Biggest clue is a kids’ swing-park to the right of the tenement (long established, judging by the ornate ironwork on the crossbar of a set of swings). Premises are the Lunda Insulating Sheet Metal Co. (041-554-7231) and a Laundrette & Dry Cleaners. March 1976
Yate St, west side between Camlachie St and Gallowgate. I was surprised to find (thanks, VM) that this curious little building was Camlachie Police Station. It was built in 1877 to the design of John Carrick, who was Superintendent of Streets 1844-54, Master of Works 1854-62, and finally the very first City Architect 1862-89, and in these positions, particularly the last, had a massive influence over the appearance of Victorian Glasgow. He decreed the regular grid layout of the city centre, and the City Improvement Trust which comprehensively redeveloped the area around the Cross was largely his project. Most of the minor public buildings of the period , halls, markets, baths, police stations, fire stations etc. were the work of Carrick and his department. Camlachie nick, with its Venetian campanile, was one of his more eccentric designs.
The buildings one the left were part of Camlachie Distillery, set up in 1834 as the Loch Katrine Distillery. No distilling had been carried out there since the 1920s, but it was still being used as a whisky bond by the Distillers Co. Note the proto-hoody, decades ahead of his time. March 1976
Camlachie St. Curiouser and curiouser - a classical portico stuck on to the back of a police station. Whatever for? Were there a few spare columns lying around in a council yard? The building partly seen across Yate St (sorry I don’t have a proper shot of it) was Camlachie Institute, and in the distance is the retaining wall of the railway line (and part of the bridge carrying it over the Gallowgate) which connected Rutherglen with Springburn via Alexandra Park and Barnhill. March 1976
Ummm. Anyone got any idea? I’ve no note for it, but it must have been somewhere between Yate St and the Eastern Necropolis entrance. I thought it might be the cemetery gatehouse, but it’s definitely not the same building, nor do the pillars or railings match. Over to UG’s collective knowledge. March 1976
Gallowgate, north side, looking east from the Eastern Necropolis entrance. The pubs on either corner of Invernairn St were The Crossbar and The Reekie Linn. Forge cinema hereabouts now. March 1976
I spent a few hours around Parkhead Cross in March 1976. Before too much damage had been done it was deservedly made a Conservation Area, for there are some spectacular buildings, so with a few exceptions the next dozen or so shots have no great interest, as they could still be taken today, and better.
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