Glasgow << GLAS goh >> (pop. 620,756) is Scotland’s largest city and the fourth largest city in the United Kingdom. Only London, Birmingham, and Leeds have more people. The people of Glasgow are called Glaswegians.
Glasgow stands in western Scotland, on both sides of the River Clyde. The Scottish Highlands are visible from the city’s outskirts.
From the 1700’s to the mid-1900’s, Glasgow was one of Scotland’s largest ports. The port stimulated the growth of tobacco and textile industries. Shipbuilding developed in the city during the late 1700’s. Glasgow’s location in the heart of the Scottish coal fields made it a center of heavy industry, particularly steelmaking and the building of steamships and locomotives. The city ranked as a great industrial and commercial center in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. It was known as the Second City of the British Empire because it ranked second only to London in importance.
In the second half of the 1900’s, most of Glasgow’s heavy industry shut down. It was replaced by high-technology firms, especially computer manufacturers.
The city
The central city.
The downtown area of Glasgow lies on the north bank of the River Clyde and has many of the city’s museums, theaters, and shopping areas. At the center of the business district is an open square called George Square, dotted with statues of Scottish heroes. George Square is dominated by the City Chambers, a building in the Italian Renaissance style that serves as the headquarters of the City of Glasgow Council. The United Kingdom’s Queen Victoria opened the City Chambers in 1888.
Buchanan Street, Argyle Street, and Sauchiehall Street are three of Glasgow’s main downtown shopping avenues. Princes Square, at the south end of Buchanan Street, has designer shops and elegant boutiques. The downtown area also includes Glasgow’s financial district, with many high-rise office towers and the headquarters of major financial and banking companies.
East of downtown lies a commercial and residential district called Merchant City, once the headquarters of Glasgow’s tobacco traders. Merchant City has many handsomely restored buildings from the 1700’s and 1800’s. Fashionable clothing shops, trendy pubs and restaurants, and refurbished warehouses line its wide streets.
East of Merchant City is the oldest section of the city, sometimes called Old Town or Medieval Glasgow. Towering over this section is the most famous of the city’s buildings, the Glasgow Cathedral, begun in the 1100’s and mostly completed by the end of the 1200’s. The cathedral is one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in Scotland, though much of its ornamentation was removed in the 1500’s by Presbyterian reformers. It stands on the site of a chapel founded by Saint Kentigern, also known as Saint Mungo, in the A.D. 500’s. Saint Kentigern, Glasgow’s patron saint, was an early Christian missionary and bishop of Glasgow. The cathedral has a beautiful underground vault where Saint Kentigern is thought to be buried.
East of Medieval Glasgow is an area called the East End, which includes some of the most impoverished areas in the United Kingdom. Many sandstone tenements dating from the 1800’s remain in the East End.
Glasgow’s West End is a bohemian district of bookstores, boutiques, vintage clothing shops, nightclubs, and restaurants. Many university students live in the West End, and the towering Gothic-style spires of the University of Glasgow are visible from much of the district. The English architect Sir George Gilbert Scott designed many of the university’s buildings in 1870. At the center of the West End lies Kelvingrove Park, named for the River Kelvin, which flows through the park. The West End also has the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, one of the largest facilities in the United Kingdom for trade shows, conventions, and conferences. Glaswegians have nicknamed the center the Armadillo because its shape resembles the thick-shelled animal.
A residential area called the Southside lies south of the River Clyde. It includes such residential neighborhoods as Gorbals, Nitshill, Pollokshaws, Pollokshields, Queens Park, and Shawlands. The Southside also has many parks and golf courses.
North Glasgow, extending north from downtown, has one of the city’s poorest residential areas. Many of the buildings in the area are public housing projects managed by the Glasgow Housing Association.
Outlying areas.
The suburbs Airdrie, Bearsden, Kilsyth, and Milngavie have many residents who commute to Glasgow to work. Cumbernauld and East Kilbride were established in the 1950’s as new towns, government-planned communities designed to relieve crowding in Glasgow. Their industries include engineering, textiles, and electronic equipment manufacturing.
Around Glasgow is some beautiful countryside, including the Campsie Fells and Kilpatrick Hills. Loch Lomond, the largest loch (lake) in Scotland, and the Trossachs, a scenic wooded gorge made famous by the Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, lie near the city. Both are part of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.
People
Ancestry.
Glasgow is close to Ireland, and the city has always had a large population of Irish immigrants. Many Jews from eastern Europe and Italians also moved to the city during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Since the late 1950’s, numbers of Indians, Pakistanis, and Chinese have settled there.
Glasgow has several thousand people who speak Gaelic, an ancient Celtic language. An increasing number of Glaswegians have been learning Gaelic as a second language.
Religion.
The majority of the city’s population are Protestants. However, Glasgow also has a substantial Roman Catholic minority.
Housing.
Since the 1800’s, Glasgow has been notorious for its high population density and poor housing. From the 1950’s through the 1970’s, Glasgow built many high-rise housing projects. Many of Glasgow’s high-rise apartment buildings were built quickly and cheaply, using poor construction methods. As a result, they rapidly became run-down. Since the 1980’s, however, many new and renovated buildings have replenished Glasgow’s housing stock.
Education.
Glasgow is an important educational center. The University of Glasgow, founded in 1451, is the oldest university in Scotland. The university is known for its law and medical schools, as well as for marine engineering. The University of Strathclyde, founded in 1964, is famous for its engineering departments. In 1993, Jordanhill College of Education, the largest teacher-training college in Scotland, merged with the University of Strathclyde. Also in the area are Glasgow Caledonian University, the University of Paisley, and many other institutions of higher education. The most famous include the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the Glasgow School of Art, and the Glasgow College of Technology.
Mitchell Library ranks as one of the largest public reference libraries in Europe. It has an outstanding collection of materials on Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet.
Social problems.
Like many large urban areas, Glasgow has problems with poverty, crime, and drug abuse. Many of the city’s industries declined quickly during the 1980’s, causing high unemployment and family poverty. Joblessness and poverty remain serious problems, particularly in the housing projects of Drumchapel, Castlemilk, and Easterhouse.
Economy
Manufacturing.
From the late 1700’s to the 1960’s, Glasgow developed as a center of heavy industry, aided by its location close to coal and iron-ore deposits. The city’s traditional industries included cotton spinning and weaving, heavy machinery and locomotive production, and marine engineering and shipbuilding. Beginning in the mid-1900’s, however, the city lost much of its industrial base. Most heavy industries left the city.
Today, Glasgow is a center of high-technology engineering activities. Its manufactured goods include computers and other electronic products. Glasgow lies at the western end of Silicon Glen, an area of Scotland known for its large number of high-tech companies. The city is home to a number of biomedical research and technology companies. Other industries in the Glasgow area produce aircraft and marine engines, baked goods, and clothing. A number of Scotch whisky makers have distilleries in the region. Glasgow is developing a district called City Science in the central city for research and development companies.
Finance and business.
Glasgow is an important center of wholesale and retail trade as well as an administrative and commercial center. Glasgow has the head offices of National Savings and Investments, a British government agency that offers savings accounts and bonds to small investors.
Transportation.
Glasgow is the only British city besides London where more commuters travel by train than by bus. Glasgow has two main railroad terminals, Glasgow Central Station and Glasgow Queen Street Station. The Queen Street station serves Edinburgh and the north, as well as busy electric railroad routes to suburbs north of Glasgow. Glasgow Central Station is the station for the electric railroad lines serving the former counties of Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, and Lanarkshire.
Glasgow is the only city in Scotland with an underground railroad. Trains on the railroad, called the Subway, run on a 7-mile (10-kilometer) circular route.
Glasgow has an extensive network of expressways linking it with other cities in England, Scotland, and Wales. The Strathclyde Partnership for Transport plans and coordinates all types of transportation services in and around the city.
Glasgow airport, near Renfrew, has regular flights to and from most cities in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe. Prestwick Airport handles transatlantic flights.
Communication.
Glasgow is a center for television broadcasting. It has the main Scottish studios of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the headquarters of Scottish Television, the independent television company serving much of Scotland. Glasgow also has several local radio stations.
The city is home to several daily and weekly newspapers. Among the major dailies are The Herald, a morning paper, and the Evening Times.
Recreation.
The city has three professional soccer teams that compete in the Bank of Scotland Scottish Premier league, Scotland’s highest soccer league—Celtic, Partick Thistle, and the Rangers. Celtic and the Rangers have developed one of the most intense rivalries in European soccer. A fourth professional club, Clyde, is based in the Glasgow suburb of Cumbernauld. Queen’s Park is an amateur club that plays in the Scottish professional league. Glasgow also has a professional rugby team, the Glasgow Warriors, who compete in the Celtic League.
The Botanic Gardens feature Kibble Palace, a glass and wrought-iron structure created in the 1870’s by the Scottish engineer John Kibble. A three-year renovation of Kibble Palace was completed in 2006. Other Glasgow parks include Victoria Park and Queen’s Park.
A popular summertime tradition is a trip “doon the watter” by excursion boat from Glasgow to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute or other destinations. Along the Clyde coast, seaside resorts serve people who live in the Glasgow area.
The arts
Music and theater.
Glasgow has a strong tradition of music halls, a form of variety entertainment resembling American vaudeville. Glasgow’s music halls flourished from the 1800’s through the 1930’s. Many famous comedians, singers, and other entertainers appeared in Glasgow music halls, including the Alhambra and Glasgow Empire theatres. Today, the Pavilion Theatre Glasgow specializes in a modern version of music-hall shows.
Glasgow still has many thriving theaters. The Citizens Theatre in the Gorbals ranks as one of Europe’s finest repertory theaters. The Tramway Theatre, established in 2000 in an old tram depot, hosts a variety of performers. The National Theatre of Scotland, which staged its first productions in 2006, is based in Greater Easterhouse in the East End.
The Theatre Royal is the headquarters of the Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet. The Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow is the base for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scotland’s national symphony orchestra.
Architecture.
Glasgow is world famous for its Victorian architecture. Two of its architects, Alexander (Greek) Thomson and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, have international reputations. Thomson got the nickname Greek for his use of Neoclassical styles based on the architecture of ancient Greece. His St. Vincent Street Church (1859) attracts visitors from throughout the world. Mackintosh was a leader in the modern art movement called Art Nouveau, which flourished from the 1890’s to about 1910. His most famous building is the Glasgow School of Art (1896).
Art museums and galleries.
Several Glasgow museums have displays relating to Glasgow architecture, especially that of Mackintosh. The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, in Kelvingrove Park, reopened in 2006 after a three-year renovation. The refurbished museum includes a gallery with a large permanent display devoted to Mackintosh and other architects of the Glasgow School. The museum is also known for its outstanding collection of European paintings, with an emphasis on Scottish art. One of its best-known artworks is Christ of Saint John of the Cross, by the Spanish Surrealist painter Salvador Dali. The Kelvingrove Museum also has a collection of armor and natural history and archaeological exhibits.
The Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow stands on the site of Mackintosh’s last home in Glasgow. The house has been reassembled and filled with Mackintosh’s original furniture and belongings. The Hunterian also has works by such painters as Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens. William Hunter, a Glasgow physician, donated his collections of coins, manuscripts, archaeological curiosities, and other items to start the museum.
The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Architecture, Design and the City, occupies the former headquarters of The Herald newspaper. Mackintosh designed The Herald building in 1895 as his first public commission. The House for an Art Lover in Bellahouston Park is a house designed by Mackintosh in 1901 but not built until 1996, after his death. The Scotland Street School Museum, designed by Mackintosh between 1903 and 1906, presents the history of education in Scotland complete with restored classrooms of different periods.
Another distinguished art gallery is the Burrell Collection, the legacy of the Scottish shipowner Sir William Burrell, who deeded his art collection to the city in 1944. The collection, one of the finest in Europe, includes ceramics, furniture, paintings, silver, stained glass, and textiles. It is housed in Pollok House, a 1752 mansion in Pollok Country Park. Other galleries include the Collins Gallery at the University of Strathclyde and the Gallery of Modern Art, housed in a Neoclassical building in downtown Glasgow.
Other museums.
Glasgow’s Museum of Transport is one of the finest in the United Kingdom, with a superb collection of model ships. The Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid designed a new home for the Museum of Transport called the Riverside Museum. The Riverside opened on the banks of the Clyde in 2011.
The People’s Palace, on Glasgow Green, has artifacts, paintings, photographs, and other items tracing the history of the city from 1175 to the present. It includes items associated with a Glasgow hero, Sir Thomas Lipton, a tea merchant who made five attempts between 1899 and 1930 to win the America’s Cup, the highest award of international yachting. Next to the People’s Palace is a Victorian glass house called the Winter Gardens.
The Saint Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art explores religions throughout the world and aims to promote respect and understanding between people of different faiths. The Glasgow Science Centre, which opened in 2001, features hands-on exhibits and an IMAX theater.
Government
The City of Glasgow Council consists of 79 elected councilors. Each of the city’s 21 wards has either three or four councilors. The council has responsibility for parks, trash collection, local education, museums and libraries, and other city services. The council elects a leader called the lord provost. The city of Glasgow is a council area, an area of Scotland with all local government powers within its borders.
History
The name Glasgow is said to come from a Celtic word that means the dear green place. Glasgow was originally a religious settlement. It was founded, according to tradition, by Saint Kentigern, also known as Saint Mungo, in the A.D. 500’s. It rose to importance after receiving its city charter in about 1175. The building of the cathedral led to Glasgow becoming a major religious center.
After the building of the city’s first bridge over the Clyde in about 1285, Glasgow began to grow in importance as a trading hub. Glasgow’s significance increased further with the foundation of its university in 1451.
Glasgow received the rights of a royal burgh in 1611. A burgh << BUR ruh >> was a unit of local government, usually a town, with trading rights and some powers of self-government. An official called a provost, similar to a lord mayor, headed each royal burgh. Status as a royal burgh now has only ceremonial value.
Glasgow expanded rapidly after Scotland and England were united in 1707. The Act of Union, which joined the two countries, allowed Scottish ports to trade directly with North America. Glasgow became a major center for the tobacco, sugar, and cotton trades with the American Colonies and the Caribbean. Wealthy merchants known as the “tobacco lords” dominated the city in the second half of the 1700’s.
Glasgow was one of the first cities to become involved in the Industrial Revolution, a period of rapid industrial growth that began in the 1700’s. The Scottish inventor James Watt developed his steam engine near Glasgow. Plentiful deposits of coal and iron ore in the hills near the city helped make Glasgow a center for steel mills and the building of steamships and railroad locomotives.
The Clyde was narrow and shallow until the 1700’s, when engineers widened and deepened the river to make it navigable. Extensive dredging of the river and construction of dock facilities made Glasgow a major port with excellent docks and a busy harbor. Cotton-spinning and weaving formed the basis of a thriving textile industry. Production of the machinery used in textile manufacture helped boost Glasgow’s heavy engineering industries. The city’s population increased significantly during the 1800’s as a result of the expansion of the heavy industries that attracted workers.
The deepening of the River Clyde also stimulated Glasgow’s shipbuilding industry. During the 1800’s and the early 1900’s, shipbuilding yards lined the banks of the Clyde. Glasgow’s shipbuilders ranked among the best in the world, and the phrase Clyde-built came to mean quality construction. The Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and other famous ships were built there. During World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945), Glasgow became a storage center for arms and ammunition. In World War II, the city’s docks and shipyards were major targets for German air raids.
During the last half of the 1900’s, Glasgow’s economy declined, partly because of a depressed shipbuilding industry. The harbor closed, the docks were filled in, and many warehouses were torn down. During the 1970’s and 1980’s, Clydeside, the area bordering the River Clyde that once held most of the city’s docks, was refurbished with many new buildings. They include the Clyde Auditorium, designed by the British architect Sir Norman Foster, which resembles the Sydney, Australia, Opera House. The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre and a large office development also went up in the dock area.
In 2006, a concert hall called City Halls opened. It consists of several small performance spaces and two large auditoriums, the Grand Hall, created by renovating Glasgow’s 1841 City Hall, and the Old Fruitmarket, a former Victorian produce market. City Halls houses the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish Music Centre. In 2012, the National Indoor Sports Arena (now called Emirates Arena) and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome opened in Glasgow’s East End. In 2013, another stadium, called the SSE Hydro, opened near the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. Both venues were constructed for Glasgow’s hosting of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, an amateur sports competition for members of the Commonwealth of Nations.
