Scotland/Scots > Black's picturesque tourist of Scotland

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GLASGOW.
Kelvin Grove, occupying the east bank of the Kelvin, have
been purchased by the Corporation at a cost of nearly =£100,000,
to form a west end park for the free use of the public. This
place of recreation has now been beautifully laid out from
designs by Sir Joseph Paxton, and is named “ Kelvin Grove.”
The Botanic Gardens there are situated at Great Western
Road, which are of considerable extent, and occupy a site along
the banks of the Kelvin. Of foreign plants there is here a
very complete collection, and the grounds are beautifully laid
out. The Observatory, presided over by the Professor of
Astronomy in the Glasgow University, occupies a lofty emi¬
nence south of the Gardens. In the neighbourhood of tie,
Gardens, and in the same line of street, several very handsome
rows of dwelling-houses have recently been erected. Of th«se
Buckingham Terrace, on the town side of the Botanic Gardeas,
cannot fail to attract attention.
Blythswood Square, the buildings of which, from their
lofty position and elegant exterior, form one of the finest and
most prominent objects to the stranger approaching Glasgow
from the west. In the south-west corner of the square is an
Episcopal church, called St. Jude’s, in the Egyptian styl« of
architecture. The view from Blythswood Square to the soath
and west is very fine ; but on the north it is intercepted by
the more commanding ridge of Garnet Hill.
The portion of the city on the south side of the Cl/de
comprises a population of about 80,000, located in Hutcheson-
town, Lauriston, Tradeston, and Kingston, mostly in the barmy
of Gorbals. Prior to 1846, Gorbals had a council, magistracy,
and police jurisdiction of its own ; but in that year an act vas
passed, extending the municipality of Glasgow over the submbs,
and amalgamating the whole under one management. In
Hutchesontown, which stretches eastward, huge clusters of
cotton factories have sprung up ; but in other directions,
numerous spacious streets evince the rapid growth of the city
in substantial wealth and comfort. Portland Street, which is
nearly a mile in length, contains the new Baronial Hall in
connection with the Police Buildings.
The Joint Terminus of the Glasgow and South-Western
and Greenock Railways, a heavy and sombre edifice, will be
observed immediately on crossing the Broomielaw Bridge.