Walking Through Partick, Past and Present

Walking Through Past and Present Partick

Meadowside Granary, Glasgow, with Partick laid out behind it

Old Mill of Partick, on Old Dumbarton Road

Also, within the last few months, the last mill in Partick, the huge Rank Hovis one on Dunaskin Street which produced flour for their Duke street factory, has been demolished. I think there is now only one mill building standing, and that is one of the oldest, the Old Mill of Partick, sometimes called Bishop's Mill, now converted into flats. This handsome building (on what is now the Yorkhill side of the River Kelvin) is recognisable for its wheat-sheaf sculpture atop the chimney stack. In the old photo you can see the channel or lade taking the water away from the mill's water wheel.

St Simon's Church, Partick

Plaques at St Simon's church marking its Polish connections

Just around the corner on Dumbarton Road is found the entrance to Kelvin Hall subway station, called Partick Cross station until 1977. Merkland Street subway station became Partick station at this time too. Regarding the overground train stations, I've already mentioned Partick Central station (which became Kelvin Hall station in 1959) just south of Partick Cross. There was also Partick West near Meadowside granary and Partickhill station.

Old Glasgow subway map with Merkland St and Partick Cross staions

At the time of the redevelopment of the subway system in the late 1970s, Partickhill station was closed down and moved about 100 yards south to become Partick station and share a site with the subway on Merkland Street. Partickhill station was on the north side of Dumbarton Road and above the old Woolworths here. A metal door still covers over the stairway that led up to it from Dumbarton Road, and it you are waiting for a train from Partick, look northwards 100 yards and you can see the remains of Partickhill station's platforms.

Entrance to the station formerly known as Partick Cross, now Kelvin Hall station

When I was young the F&F Bingo used to stand diagonally across the road from this subway station. Before then it had been the F&F Ballroom, which also accommodated roller skating. In the 1980s I wasn't down here for the bingo, but started many a Saturday trawl around the local record shops at West End Records a couple of doors down from the F&F. Then it was a walk up to Realistic Records on Dowanhill Street (or later Music Mania at the bottom of Byres Road), Echo and Woolworths on Byres Road (also later the upstairs record shop in John Smith's bookshop that became Monorail) and Lost In Music upstairs in De Courceys Arcade. By then you were halfway to Firhill and a few pounds poorer. I can still list off albums I remember buying in each shop, but I'll save you from that.

The F&F on Dumbarton Road, now Carlton Bingo

Dumbarton Road, looking west from Dowanhill Street

In the old photo above you can see the low shops on the left which have now been cleared, and on the right hand side, one block on, is a block of three storey tenements which are long gone, with Mansfield Park now here. The post box is still in the same position though, which is nice.

Looking north up Hyndland Street from Dumbarton Road

Above, these photographs are looking up Hyndland Street from Dumbarton Road, with the Quarter Gill pub on the left. You can see the three storey tenement building in the old photo, which was cleared to create Mansfield Park, where the Farmer's Market sets up its stalls every fortnight. At the bottom corner of this block you can see the shop is run by William McColl. The tower of Dowanhill Church, now Cottiers bar/restaurant/ theatre, can be seen at the top of the street and St Peter's church halfway up on the right. The offices of the Glasgow Gaelic Centre are on the other side of Mansfield Park. Partick has always had a large community of Gaels. This dates from the days of drovers coming down to Partick from the Western Highlands with their animals, on the route into Glasgow. Later there was an influx of people from the Highlands and Islands coming to find work in the city.

Over 130 years ago, my ancestors arrived in Partick from Alness and Kilmonivaig, John McPhee, Kate Henderson and their children.

My great-granny McPhee was born in a flat on Dumbarton Road just west of Partick Cross in 1888. Her mother had come to Glasgow from her home in Alness, Rosshire as a domestic servant, working in a flat just off Mansfield Park here. Her husband was living in Partick, at this time working as a hotel servant. He had come from Kilmonivaig, near Fort William.

The Heid o' the Goat, now Keith Street

In the days when my family arrived in Partick there would still have been traces of old Partick cottages hereabouts. The centre of pre-industrial Partick was 'the Goat', an old Scots name for a small burn, which ran down where Keith Street is now. The "heid o' the Goat" was the north end of this burn. These photos are at the top of Keth Street where it meets Dumbarton Road at the bottom of Hyndland Street (it always annoyed me that when a pub opened calling itself "The Goat" it was about half a mile away from the Goat). These cottages weren't demolished until the 1930s, and where Comet used to have a shop now stands a shiny new block of student flats.

Another view of Keith Street. Note the Criterion Ices shop

Society of Friends Burial Ground, Keith Street, Partick

At the bottom end of Keith Street lies what is surely Glasgow's smallest graveyard. A plaque shows that this is the Society of Friends (Quakers) Burial Ground. Although it is still neat and maintained, no gravestones still mark the plots. John Purdon, who gifted the land, is remembered in nearby Purdon Street (where The Smiddy pub is) and his wife was apparently the first person to be buried here.

Society of Friends Burial Ground, Keith Street, Partick

There is evidence of a bishop's residence in the village of Partick dating back to the 12th century and old pictures record the ruins of "Partick Castle" down by the River Kelvin. For centuries the main importance of Partick was as a ford to cross the River Kelvin when travellers moved between Dumbarton and Glasgow.

Balshagray Farm, Partick. Not much farming goes on now in Partick and Balshagray Avenue is a dual carriageway into the Clyde Tunnel. You can see the tenements of Partick in the background of this picture, marching towards the farm

With industrial expansion in the 19th century a village of 1,235 people in 1820 had grown to over 10,000 people by 1860. By 1911 over 66,000 people lived in Partick. To cope with the changes Partick became a Police Burgh in 1852. The original Burgh Hall and police station can be seen at the back of Morrison's car park, on Anderson Street. Everyone knew this building as "Partick Marine" as the police force had a marine division, although they were only responsible for the quay and warehouses and didn't take to sea.

Partick Marine. Former Police station and courtroom.You can see the barred windows of the cells on the left and a rooftop exercise yard here

In 1872 the Burgh Halls moved to larger premises opposite the West of Scotland Cricket pitch, where Partick Burgh Halls still stand. As Glasgow continued to expand, Partick was eventually absorbed into the city and in 1912 Partick was a burgh no more.

Partick Burgh Halls on the left, opposite the West of Scotland Cricket Club pitch

Partick Burgh Halls is a grand old building, designed by Scottish architect William Leiper, who also designed Dowanhill Church/ Cottiers and the Templeton Carpet Factory at Glasgow Green. In the picture above you can see the Burgh Halls peeking out between the modern flats on the far side of the cricket pitch. Cricket has a surprisingly long history in Glasgow. The West of Scotland Cricket Club which still plays here was formed in 1862, before that the Clutha Cricket Club played on the northern part of this land. On the right hand side of the picture above the houses on Peel Street run down towards Dumbarton Road. You can see that the street here is a mixture of old tenements and modern flats. This was because this row was badly damaged by German bombers during the nights of the Clydebank Blitz. On March 13th 1941 a land mine dropped from a plane struck this block, killing 50 people here. Another landed on Lauderdale Gardens and a third on Dudley Drive in Hyndland, killing 36 people.

Before houses stood on Peel Street, a map from 1861 shows that a curling pond and bowling green were to this side of the cricket ground. Between 1883 and 1885 Partick Thistle played at Muir Park to the south east of the cricket ground (see here). And whilst were still on a sporting theme, I'm sure that everyone knows by now that the world's first international football match was played upon the grass of the West of Scotland Cricket Club? Scotland and England played out a 0-0 draw here on St Andrew's Day, 1872. A crowd of 4,000 paid a shilling each to attend.

Looking north up Merkland Street, now the site of Partick train and subway stations

The other side of Dumabrton Road from Partick Burgh Halls, Merkland Street is now home to a large Morrisons, Partick train station and underground stations and the bus "interchange". However in the old picture above you can see none of that. Even the Merkland Street subway station is hard to make out in the old picture, the entrance was in a close on the left hand side just under the railway bridge (which is no longer there). The flats coming down the right hand side of Merkland Street in the old photo have been cleared after one block. You can see the painting of the netball player, done for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games on the remaining gable end.

Looking east along Dumbarton Road from Peel Street

Bridge over Dumbarton Road to Partickhill Station

DM Hoey and the Rosevale Bar on Dumbarton Road

On the block across the road from the train station as we continue to move west there used to stand DM Hoey's at one end and the Rosevale Bar at the other end, only the pub has survived. In the 1960s there were six braches of Hoey's in Glasgow (Dumbarton Road, New City Road, Maryhill Road, Ibrox, West Nile Street and Argyll Street) for all your men's casual clothing needs. In the 1980s I used to get my school tie at the branch in Knightswood shopping centre, and the first time I bought my dad a Christmas present it was a box of three cotton hankies from the Partick branch. The company was founded in 1898. I thought that there was still one going on Victoria Road, but I can't find it on Street View so maybe Hoey's is no more. The nearest thing to it now is Man's World which still inexplicably manages to keep trading on Byres Road. So where a fishmonger has been replaced by a Credit Union across the road, a clothes shop has been replaced by a bookies. Other than shifting the entrance, The Rosevale hasn't changed.

Looking east from junction of Crawford Street onto Dumbarton Road, this junction no longer exists.

These photos above are a further 100 yards west from The Rosevale and the tenement block on the right hand side was demolished to re-arrange the junction at the bottom of Crow Road and has been replaced with modern low houses. The Ettrick pub which the couple are walking past as they cross Crawford Street has gone from here, and for a while there was an Ettrick Bar on Dumbarton Road at the bottom of Gardner Street, but it has now been re-branded as Heisenberg's. If you are trying to track down an old Glasgow pub can I point you in the direction of oldglasgowpubs.co.uk.

After coming this far along Dumbarton Road I walked up Crow Road to Broomhill Cross, then up Clarence Drive and down Hyndland Road to head back to Partick via Byres Road.

Looking north up Byres Road from the junction at Dowanside Road