Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 3

GLASGOW
devoted to the purposes of the two divisions of the
circuit court of justiciary, which sit here in what are
known as the Old Court and the New Court. It had
originally 122 cells for prisoners, but has been found
to fall so far short of modern ideas, that since 1862
it has been legalised for criminal prisoners only, on
the condition that no one should be detained in it
longer than forty-eight hours at one time. The prison
accommodation being still too small, a large new
prison has been erected at Barlinne on the Cumbernauld
Koad to the E of the city ; but as it is without the
municipal boundary, it falls to be noticed under
Lanarkshire.
Exchanges. — A public newsroom, for the perusal of
newspapers and other periodicals, was opened in Glas-
gow about 1770, but conferred its benefits upon only a
few. A coffee-room or exchange readiug-room was
founded in the Tontine buildings at the Cross in 1781,
but was gradually superseded by the Eoyal Exchange,
and became extinct about 1870. The Koyal Exchange
stands in an open area called Exchange Square, on the W
side of Queen Street opposite Ingram Street. The site was
formerly occupied by a house belonging to Cunningham
of Lainshaw, which was bought by the New Exchange
Company and converted into offices, to which the other
buildings were added. The structure, which is one of
the finest in Glasgow, was erected in 1829 at a cost of
£60,000. The style is Corinthian, and in front is a
magnificent octostyle portico, with a double row of
columns. Behind this and extending half-way down
each side are five pilasters with a rich cornice, and from
this to the W end of the building is a colonnade with
fluted Corinthian pillars. There is a cyclastyle lantern
clock-tower, with a low-domed roof. The principal
apartment is a great newsroom, 130 feet long, 60
wide, and 30 high, with an arched roof panelled and
decorated, and supported on two rows of Corinthian
columns. There are also a number of smaller apart-
ments, used as magazine-room, newspaper file consulting-
room, merchants' ofBce, key -room, secretary's room, sale-
rooms, telegraph office, and underwriters' office. The
subscription is £2, 10s. from members who have resi-
dences or offices within six miles of it, and £1, 10s.
from others, and it is free for four weeks to strangers
introduced by a subscriber, and always to officers in
garrison. The wide paved space on both sides commu-
nicates with Buchanan Street through openings spanned
by Doric archways.
The Old Stock Exchange stands behind the National
Bank, on the W side of Queen Street to the S of the
Eoyal Exchange. It is a plain building, erected in
1846. The New Stock Exchange is situated between
the Western Club and St George's Chm-ch, at the
SE comer of St George's Place and Buchanan Street,
and was erected between 1875 and 1877 at a cost of
£45,000, including site. It has at the SE corner a
highly ornamented tower, rising to a height of 112 feet.
The frontage to George Street is 85 feet and to St
George's Place 74 feet, the height embracing three
stories. The facade is supported at the street by Gothic
pillars, and above the arches, carried on these, runs a
broad band of carved lattice work, somewhat after the
Moorish fashion. The two upper flats also show traces
of Gothic feeling, and the wall is surmounted by a stone
balustrade with carved supports. The ground floor is
occupied by shops ; on the first floor is the great hall,
60 feet long, 50 wide, and 32 high. The Clearing
House, which occupies the greater part of the top
story, measures 80 by 50 feet, and is lighted from the
top by a large glass dome. There are also a large read-
ing-room and a telegraph office, besides a number of
smaller apartments. The Corn Exchange stands at the
corner of Hope Street and Waterloo Street. It is an
Italian building, erected in 1842, and contains a haU
60 feet long and 57 wide. The Telephonic Exchange is
at the corner of Douglas Street and Sauchiehall Street.
Post Office. — In 1736 the Post Office was in Princes
Street, then called Gibson's Wynd or Lane. It was
removed to St Andrews Street about 1800, and again
132
GLASGOW
in 1803 to back premises in a court at 114 Trongate.
In 1810 it was again moved to convenient premises in
South Albion Street, which were rented by the govern-
ment from the then postmaster. It was thereafter in
small premises in Nelson Street, which were found in-
convenient, and in 1840 it was removed first to Wilson
Street and then to larger but very plain buildings in
Glassford Street, where it remained till 1856, when it
was removed to Manhattan Buildings, at the corner of
South Hanover Street and George Square. The build-
ing it then occupied was a very plain Italian erection,
very poor as compared with the amount of business done
or the great importance of the city. It was in 1872 ex-
tended by a very plain wing to the E, but complaints
nevertheless still continued as to the utter inadequacy
of the old structure, and at length in 1876 the build-
ings and ground to the E of the old Post Office towards
South Frederick Street were acquired by government,
and designs prepared for the present buSdings, and
they have since been entirely reconstructed. They now
embrace the whole space between South Hanover Street
and South Frederick Street, down each of which they
extend for half the distance of the whole street, while
the main front is to George Square. The style of the new
buildings is Italian, very plain and severe, but handsome
and dignified. The front extends to a length of 190 feet
and the length along the side streets is 120 feet ; the
height is 75 feet, divided into four stories. All along
the top of the front and flanks is a massive cornice, with
panelled balustrade and a series of carved vases. In
the centre is a pediment crowned with the royal arms.
In the centre of the front is the main entrance and
letter boxes, in a lobby entered from the street by three
arched openings, with polished granite pillars and en-
tablature. There are also two side entrances, with
arches and pilasters. At the sides entering from the
George Square lobby are the various departments — the
postmaster's office, the telegraph of&ce, the postal and
telegraph inquiry office, and the stamp, registered letter,
private box, money order and savings' bank oflices, and
the post restaiite. Behind and entered by the side door
from South Frederick Street is the letter carriers' and
sorting department. The basement floor contains the
engine-house and pneumatic apparatus together with
telegraph batteries. The apartmentforming the telegraph
machine room is in one of the upper flats. Some of the
departments are lit by the electric light. The whole build-
ing covers over half an acre, and has cost over £60,000.
The foundation-stone was laid by the Prince of Wales
in 1876, and the eastern half was built and finished,
but the second or western half was finished and occu-
pied only in 1881. There are branch post offices with
money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments
at Anderston, Argyle Street, Bridgeton, Charing Cross,
Eglinton Street, Fish Market, HiUhead, Hope Street,
Kingston, Partick, St Enoch's Square, the Cross and
Whitevale, and with telegraph departments only at the
Royal Exchange and Stock Exchange. There are also
in various parts of the city 25 receiving houses and
73 pillar and wall letter boxes, or 85 inclusive of
those in Partick and HiUhead. A century ago the
staff consisted of a postmaster, two assistants, and two
letter carriers; there are at present (1882) a postmaster, 27
superintendents, assistant-superintendents, and clerks,
and 124 sorting clerks, while the distribution of the
letters, etc., through the city and suburbs is carried out
by 240 carriers, and 17 auxiliary letter carriers, acting
under an inspector and 5 assistant-inspectors. The
telegraph department is conducted by a superintendent,
5 assistant-superintendents, 16 clerks, 280 telegraphists,
21 adult messengers, 38 house messengers, and 132
docket messengers. The first regular Edinburgh mail
coach was started in 1758, letters before that being con-
veyed on foot or on horseback, and the first London
mail coach about 1790 ; there are now 30 despatches
and over 50 arrivals every day to and from various
parts of the kingdom, while mails are made up for and
arrive from all parts of the world at intervals varying
from a week to a month. In 1838 the number of
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