Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

GLASGOW
thorn (3752 acres), so that the area of what may be
termed 'Greater Glasgow' now covers 11,861 acres.
The burghs of Kinning Park, Govan, and Partick resisted
annexation and still remain independent; but were these
and the landward part of the parish of Govan to be
added to the city, to which they naturally belong, the
acreage would be increased to 15,659. The extension
involved an addition of 9 to the 16 former wards of the
city, the seventeenth being formed by Govanhill, the
eighteenth by Polmadie and Crosshill, the nineteenth
by Langside, Mount Florida, and Shawlands; the twen-
tieth by Strathbungo, the twenty -first by Pollokshields
and Bellahouston, the twenty-second by Hillhead, the
twenty-third by Kelvinside, the twenty-fourth by Mary-
hill, Gilshochill, and Wyndford; and the twenty-fifth
by the NE part of Springburn, Possilpark, Blochairn,
Broomfield, Barnhill, and Balgray. The wards of the
city were rearranged and reconstituted in 1S96, and an
act of Parliament was passed to bring the parliamentary
boundaries into conformity with the new arrangement.
The length of the municipality from Shettleston Shed-
dings on the E to beyond Jordanhill station on the W,
and from the Kelvin near Sandyflat on the N to beyond
Langside on the S is about 6 miles in each case, and the
total length of the boundary line is over 24 miles.
Appearance. — A stranger entering Glasgow by any
of the ordinary routes is not likely to be favourably im-
pressed by it. By the Edinburgh and Glasgow branch
of the North British system and by the northern branch
of the Caledonian, he enters through dark and smoky
tunnels. By the Bathgate branch of the North British,
he enters through the dingy region of Parkhead, with
its rolling-mill and forge ; while, by the southern
branch of the Caledonian, the approach lies through
murky mineral fields, amid the blaze of iron-works. By
the Glasgow and South-Western line, he approaches
amid houses of an inferior description. If the visitor
come by road — excepting the approach by the Great
Western Road — it is much the same; while if he come
by the river, long ere reaching the city he has left
the beauties of the Clyde behind, and finds himself
moving slowly along a river which is not at all pure
or sweet, amid a jiotley array of shipbuilding yards
and engineering establishments resounding to the
rattling of many hammers. No sooner, however, does
he reach the centre of the city than he finds a vast
difference in the character of the streets and in the sur-
roundings, and sees on every hand buildings displaying
both beauty and taste. Few exterior views of the city
or of parts of it are interesting; and from the fact that
no exterior view of it as a whole can be got, it is diffi-
cult to carry away from Glasgow any general impression.
The best of the exterior views is from the Cathkin Hills,
and they are too far off (3 miles) to allow of a distinct
idea.
Lines of Street and Districts. — The city had its origin
on the high ground adjoining the western side of the
Molendinar Burn ravine, nearly a mile N of the Clyde;
and as any extension immediately eastward was imprac-
ticable in consequence of the opposite side of the ravine
being flanked by steep rising ground, the earliest en-
largements took place over rapid slopes to the SE and
SW to the flat ground towards the bank of the river.
From this the extensions, which, till the latter part of
last century, constituted the main bulk of the city,
passed southward to an ancient bridge across the Clyde
on the site of the present Victoria Bridge. The central
line of thoroughfare through these extensions was the
Bell o' the Brae (High Street NE of its intersection with
George Street), leading to the flat ground, and then
continuously High Street, Saltmarket, and Bridgegate
to the bridge. This was intersected at the S end of
High Street at the Cross by a transverse line of streets
running E and W, Gallowgate striking off to the E and
Trongate to the W. The principal extensions of the
latter part of the 18th century and the early part of the
19th century went westward, along the plain over all
the space between the high ground and the river, the
main thoroughfares being George Street, along the base
GLASGOW
of the high ground; Argyle Street, a continuation of
the Trongate westward; and a number of transverse
streets running in a direction nearly parallel to High
Street and Saltmarket. Other extensions of contem-
porary date went eastward along the sides of the Gallow-
gate, and thence spread still farther to the E and SE,
forming suburbs; while a small suburb of ancient date,
at the S end of the bridge across the Clyde, spread
rapidly E and S and W. The more recent extensions
which have taken place to the N and NE, very largely
to the S, and most of all to the W, have been very wide,
so much so indeed that they have not only taken in
outlying suburbs of some antiquity, but have also
created new ones of considerable size; whilst the lines of
streets exhibit an amount of imposing architecture in
public buildings, works, warehouses, and private houses
of much greater account than that of all the previous
portions of the city. The westward extension on the
N bank of the river, which reaches from about the line
of Hope Street to nearly 2 miles W of the Kelvin, is
the fiuest of all, and, consisting mainly of elegant
private residences, with places of business and public
buildings interspersed, constitutes on the whole a West
End somewhat similar to the West End of London.
This portion of the city has the great advantage of
including the heights at Blythswood Square and Garnet
Hill, the high grounds to the E of Kelvingrove Park and
Gilmore Hill, with the reaches of the Kelvin between;
and is comparatively free from the smoke and turmoil
that prevail in most of the other parts of the city. It
offers indeed, along with the suburban districts, so many
advantages for residence that probably ere long, out of
business hours, the central portion of Glasgow will be as
little inhabited as the city in London, and the whole
area given over to business purposes.
From the outline of the growth of the streets of Glas-
gow just given, it will be evident that the older and
more irregular part of the city, with the usual closes
and narrow and crooked streets, will lie to the E of the
Cross, while the districts to the W, N, and S show
greater regularity of plan, the streets in most cases in-
tersecting at right angles, though the branching of soma
of the main roads causes in many places minor deviations
by the formation of triangular and irregularly shaped
blocks. As might be expected from the course of the
river Clyde, the main lines of thoroughfare run in a
direction more or less from E to W, with cross streets
from N to S; but this regularity. is best marked in the
districts on the S side and between Argyle Street and
George Street and Argyle Street and Sauchiehall Street.
In the eastern district, extending for fully a mile
in length and with an average breadth of 2J furlongs,
is the public park of Glasgow Green, all that now re-
mains of the old common ground. It is bounded on the
N partly by somewhat ordinary looking streets, with fac-
tories, and partly by neat terraces. The streets leading
westward are spacious, and for more than half a mile
are not encumbered by buildings next the river bank.
Beyond this the sheds for the traffic at the harbour
are close to the Clyde. The areas at the College
Station E of High Street, and of George and St
Enoch's Squares, break in this district the prevailing
density of the street masses. The West End dis-
trict displays a fine assemblage of handsome streets,
terraces, and crescents, intermixed with open ground
and spaces laid out with shrubs. The chief lines of
thoroughfare from N to S are by Springburn Road,
Castle Street, High Street, Saltmarket, Crown Street,
and Cathcart Road in the E; and by Garscube or New
City Road, Cowcaddens, Renfield Street, Union Street,
Jamaica Street, Glasgow Bridge, Bridge Street, and
Eglinton Street in the centre and towards the W; and
subsidiary lines are by Port Dundas Road and Buchanan
Street, and by Glassford Street, Stockwell Street, Victoria
Bridge, Main Street (Gorbals), and Pollokshaws Road.
The main line of thoroughfare from E to W is by Great
Eastern Road, Gallowgate, Trongate, Argyle Street,
Main Street (Anderston), and Dumbarton Road. There
are also subsidiary lines along both banks of the river,
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