Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 3

GLASGOW
There is a small debt court on Monday, Wednesday,
and Thursday, and a court under the Debts Recovery
(Scotland) Act on Monday. Justice of peace courts are
held in the Justice's Hall, County Buildings, for cases
of crime and cases under the Revenue, Roads, Weights
and Measures, etc. , Laws every Monday and Thursday,
at 11 a.m., and for small debt cases every Tuesday ".nd
Friday.
Police Buildings. — The first police office was in the
Laich or Tron Church session-house, and was thence
removed to the NW corner of Bell Street and Candle-
riggs, where it was one stair up I In 1825, however,
more suitable buildings were erected at the angle of
Bell Street and South Albion Street, midway between
High Street and Candleriggs, at a cost of £15,000,
and an addition to this was made in 1851 at a
cost of £8000, the whole now constituting the Central
Police Office. The situation was originally very central
for the police business, but, till sweepingly altered by
the operations of the City Improvement Trust subse-
quent to 1875, was also eminently disagreeable and un-
sanitary. Bell Street was a narrow, squalid thorough-
fare, with dingy houses. South Albion Street was a
mere lane or narrow alley, and both were surrounded
by a dense and repulsive part of the city. Though
erected in such an unfavourable locality, the buildings
themselves are very substantial, forming a high quad-
rangular block, enclosing a court of 50 feet by 34, and
containing a hall for the sittings of the police court, a
room where meetings of the police committee of the
town council are held, accommodation for the superin-
tendent of streets, the treasurer, and other officials, and
ranges of cells and wardrooms for prisoners. An ad-
joining building consists of barracks and other accom-
modation for the unmarried members of the force. A
low roofed solid structure at the W end of College Street
a little to the NNE was erected in 1851, and accommo-
dates the Central Fire Brigade. It contains a number
of fine fire-engines and other necessary apparatus in
connection with fire brigade work. The lighting de-
paitment has also its headquarters close by. The clean-
ing department has its headquarters in extensive pre-
mises in Parliamentary Road. These were mostly
erected in 1873, have a handsome front, and contain
ample accommodation for water carts, sweeping ma-
chines, horses, and stores.
Besides the Central or Head Office, there are offices
known as the "Western, Eastern, Southern, Northern,
St EoUox, and Marine JDi-s-ision, in respectively Ander-
ston (Cranston Street), Calton (Tobago Street), Gorbals
(South Portland Street), Cowcaddens (Maitland Street),
St EoUox (Tennant Street), and Broomielaw (Robertson
Street). The offices in South Portland Street were
formerly used by the separate municipal government of
the Gorbals district, and are handsome and commodious
buildings. The St Rollos Office was erected in 1873,
and is a two-story building, with an auxiliary fire
station. None of the others call for particular notice.
Besides these there are police stations at the South
Prison, Dalmamock Road, Camlachie, Paisley Road,
South Wellington Street, Camperdown Street, and
Springburn. Police courts are held every lawful day at
the Central, Anderston, Calton, Gorbals, and Cowcad-
dens Offices at 10 a.m. ; and about 350 cases are dis-
posed of on an average every day, about one-third being
due to drunkenness. The bailie of the river and Firth
of Clyde holds a court in the hall in Robertson Street
on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 9.30 a.m.
The police force and fire brigade are separately noticed.
A new office for the marine division is to be erected in
M 'Alpine Street.
Prisom. — The first prison of Glasgow is said to have
been in a dungeon attached to the cathedral, but men-
tion is made as early as li54 of a tolbooth at the NW
corner of the High Street and Trongate, on the site of
the present Cross Steeple, but no account of it has been
preserved. There was also a prison known as 'the
heicht tolbuyth' in the end of the 16tli and the begin-
ning of the 17th century. The Cross Tolbooth, having
GLASGOW
become decayed and ruinous, was pulled down in 1626,
and a new one erected. Franck's account of this latter
building has been already noticed. M'Ure describes it
as ' a magnificent structure, being of length from E to W
sixty-six foot, and from the S to the N, twenty-four foot
eight inches ; it hath a stately staircase ascending to the
justice court hall, within which is the entry of a large
turnpike or staircase ascending to the town council hall,
above which there was the dean of gild's hall. . . .
The first story of this great building consists of six rooms,
two whereof are for the magistrates' use, one for the
dean of gild's court, and another for the collector of the
town's excise. ... In this great building are five
large rooms appointed for common prisoners ; the
steeple on the E end thereof being one hundred and
thirteen foot high, adorned with a curious clock, all of
brass, with four dial plates ; it has a large bell for the
use of the clock, and a curious sett of chymes and time-
able bells which plays every two hours, and has four
large touretts on the corners thereof, with thanes finely
gilded, and the whole roof is covered with lead. Upon
the frontispiece of this building is his majesty's arms
finely cut out with a fine dial, and below the same is
this Latin inscription : —
* '* Hfec domus odit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat,
Nequitiam, pacem, crimina, jura, probos. " *
The steeple still stands as the Cross Steeple. It is 126
feet high, and the top has flying buttresses meeting
and forming an open crown. 'The old chime contained
twenty-eight bells, commencing at F sharp and ending
at C natural ; but a new chime of sixteen bells was
inaugurated on 25 Dec. 1881. They vary in size from
21 to 40 inches, with notes G, A, B flat, B, C, D, E
flat, E, F, F sharp, G, A, B flat, B, C, D. There is a
chiming apparatus, and they are played every day from
one to two, and from six to seven o'clock. The old
steeple bell passed to Calton parish church, and has now
been placed in the Kelvingrove Museum. The building
erected in 1626 remained in use down to the beginning
of the present century. After the Reformation the house
of the prebendary of Cambuslang was fitted up as a
house of correction, but became unsuitable about 1790 ;
and in 1792 a building in High Street was used in-
stead, but was discontinued when the North Prison was
erected.
The North Prison is on the N side of Duke Street, a
short distance to the E of High Street. The first
erection passed into the hands of the authorities in
1798, and was greatly enlarged in 1823-24. The prison
is now an assemblage of plain, strong buildings within
an enclosure surrounded by lofty walls. Three of the
blocks of building were erected prior to 1854. It con-
tained, at that time, 26 rooms or cells for debtors, 386
cells for male criminals, 200 cells for female prisoners, a
chapel, baths, store rooms, and all other requisite
prison appliances. It underwent considerable enlarge-
ment in 1870-72, but was found iu August 1874 to be
still insufficient for the increasing number of prisoners,
and between that date and 1880 it underwent great
alteration and enlargement.
The South Prison is on the W side of the Saltmarket,
near the river, to which it has its S flank, while the
main front is towards Glasgow Green. It was erected
in 1814 at a cost of £34,800, and is a quadrangular pile
measuring 215 feet along the front, and 144 from E
to W. It has in the centre of its main front a lofty
Doric portico, with a double row of fluted columns —
six in front and four behind — with corresponding
pilasters. There is a plain frieze and a tympanum with
the city arms. The imposing appearance of the portico
is, however, much marred by the low ground on which
it stands. At each end of the main front is a projecting
wing, with a double pair of pilasters. It is enclosed by
massive iron railings. It originally provided accom-
modation for the circuit justiciary court, for the county
court, and for the municipal courts and offices ; but in
1840 it was found too small for so many bodies, and
was altered and adapted so as to leave it almost entirely
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