Glasgow and Southwest Scotland May 4-9, 2018
GLASGOW
Scotland’s biggest city, it has a working-class background, black humor, and leftist traditions. There are good museums, architecture, an active street eating and drinking culture and friendly people.
History. Glasgow grew around the cathedral founded by St Kertigan, later to become St Mungo in the 6th century. Little remains of the medieval city were replaced by capitalism, the Industrial Revolution, and the British Empire.
In the 18th century, much of the tobacco trade between Europe and the USA was routed through Glasgow, providing a great source of wealth. That declined in the 19th century but was replaced by textile manufacturing, , shipbuilding, coal, and steel. But there were dire working conditions in the factories.
In the first half of the 20th century, Glasgow was the center of Britain’s munitions industry, supplying ships and arms for the two world wars and in WW II, it was carpet-bombed. Post-war, port and heavy industries declined and in the early 70s, it looked doomed: unemployment, economic depression, and urban violence centered around high-rise housing schemes such as the fabled Gorbals.
Since urban development and a booming cultural sector have revived the city. However, the standard of living is low for Britain and life remains tough for many. Ongoing regeneration was spurred by the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
The four football clubs in Glasgow are the Rangers (Protestant support), Celtic (Catholic support) with a fierce rivalry, Queens Park and Partick Thistle. There are 4 professional football leagues (tiers): Premier, Championship, League 3, and League 4 – sounds like too many and most are not competitive. Tickets are not sold to the general public and you need to know a season-ticket holder. I find football a little dull to watch on TV and dislike the dives and faking of injuries to get penalties (if that happened in hockey, the player would never live it down. Most of the enthusiasm must be generated being live in the stands with drinking. One game I saw in Buenos Aires with the Junior Bocas was indeed very exciting but the fans were nuts.
Use The List www.list.co.uk, a guide to all films, theatre, music, and clubs in Glasgow and Edinburgh published monthly.
On a gorgeous sunny, warm day with no wind (my first in weeks), I set a personal record Nomad Mania day with 13 ticks (sites marked with a *) plus many other sites including a great walking tour through the center. Glasgow is a European City* and a World City *. One thing that surprised me was no street food; it must be prohibited by law. The bars were all packed – Glaswegians are great drinkers. My impression of Glasgow was of dark soot-covered buildings, but none of that is true – it has great architecture and no soot.
The next day I saw some of the venues not open on a Sunday: the SWG3, Glasgow Police Museum, Modern Institute, and Scottish Football Museum. So it was 17 NM ticks in two days.
Pollack Park.
Burrell Collection.* Unfortunately this amazing collection donated by the industrialist Sir William Burrell (1861-1958) is closed for refurbishment until 2020, but I drove out here to Pollack Park to see the building and beautiful location. He specified that the collection is housed away from Glasgow’s pollution and it took 39 years before the land was donated and the Clean Air Act was introduced before this custom-built building with its all-glass walls could be built. It opened in 1983. Look for the tar spot fungus on the sycamore tree leaves that indicate a humid, pollution-free environment.
The collection is that of a man with a passion: ceramics, the 3rd largest collection of medieval tapestries in the world, glass, and decorative arts (silver, rugs, furniture) displaying the whole history of Scotland, ancient China, Egypt, Greece, and Tudor England to the early 20th century. You name it, he had it. Only 20% of the 9,000 pieces are on display. Now during the refurbishment, much is on tour and the Kelvingrove has a nice display.
The Clyde. Once a thriving ship-building area, it became derelict but has now been extensively rejuvenated with a promenade walkway along its entire length. The Clyde Walkway goes 40 miles between Glasgow upriver to New Lanark. I parked near the SSE Hydro next to the river for a big day in Glasgow and walked west past the following sites.
SSE Hydro. This spectacular modern building holds big-name concerts, sporting events and shows. The seats are individually adjustable and can be configured in many ways.
Clyde Auditorium.* Shaped like an armadillo and very similar to the Sydney Opera House, this facility next to Hydro holds concerts.
Across the river are several nice buildings; BBC Scotland and the Science Centre. Two walking bridges are within 200m of each other.
Riverside Museum.* Voted European Museum of 2013, this transportation museum shows how good museums can be structured and is not to be missed. It has everything: bicycles, baby buggies, trams, buses, subways cars, locomotives, ships (The Queen Mary 1937-67 made 1001 crossings of the Atlantic and Queen Elizabeth and a huge collection of cars displayed stacked on a big wall. Descriptions are brief but tell you what you need to know.
West End. Glasgow University is here and where Glasgow gets close to Bohemian.
SWG3.* This is a multi-function venue with a café’bar, poetry club, art gallery, an open air graffiti show held annually but is primarily a performing arts venue.
Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum.* In a magnificent Victorian stone building, it has an eclectic collection from excellent Scottish art, Impressionists, stuffed animals, African to South Pacific art. The Salvador Dali was on loan to the St Petersburg Dali Museum (I have been there – it has the best Dali collection in the world). The gallery sits in Kelvingrove Park with a lovely river winding through it.
In front of the museum was a skateboarder with 90% of his body tattooed and a nice ‘shirt”. It was so warm he had no top on displaying his body.
Hunterian Museum.* Hunter (1718-83) was an eminent Glasgow surgeon and collector with two museums on the University of Glasgow grounds. In an old sandstone building, this is a quirky display of pickled organs, deformed animals, and cultural artifacts from all over the world. The main hall has a wonderful vaulted roof.
Hunterian Art Gallery.* Shows primarily Scottish artists and the American James Whistler. I found it not too interesting.
I walked north to the Kelvinbridge Subway station (Glasgow Subway* still uses the original 1896 small round tunnels, most dug by hand) and took it to downtown to St Enoch station. This is the only money I had to spend all day (£1.90), as all the museums were free.
City Centre. On a Sunday, downtown Glasgow was packed. The many streetside cafes were full, street performers frequent, and a great vibe, especially on the pedestrianized Buchanan Street.
Central Station.* This train station serves southern Scotland, England, and Wales from a large glass-roofed building that looks both modern and old. Hourly trains serve London.
Gallery of Modern Art – GoMA.* Housed in a grand neoclassical building in the center of downtown, this is a typical contemporary museum full of the usual crap. I would not like to be a modern artist – they all must feel they have to do something special – and it is usually not very good. One thing I especially enjoyed was a fascinating video The Way Things Go by Fischle/Weiss that uses a series of domino-like mechanical contraptions (tires, catapults) and fire (gas, fireworks, dynamite fuses) to set off a series that seems to go on forever – 29 minutes (see it on YouTube). The building is wonderful though with a 4-story central rotunda that has good information.
City Walk Glasgow. Lonely Planet often has a guided tour walk and this one was especially good. Starting at the junction of two major shopping streets – Sauchiehall and Buchanan, pass the Gallery of Modern Art, George Square (grass and black statutes to Watt, Robert Burns and many others and a high column with Sir Walter Scott surrounded by Victorian architecture) including City Chambers (extravagant interior, a frequent movie location), then south to the Corinthian Club (don’t miss going inside this 1842 building that has had many inhabitants, but was refurbished from 1999-2010 and has elaborate cornicing, a 26-foot glass dome, superb sculptural plasterwork and marvelous mosaic floors of Queen Victoria and Elizabeth II – the staff were lovely and gave me a mini-tour), Hutcheson’s Hall (1805 school for the poor), Trades Hall (1791), Tobacco Exchange and Virginia Court, Old Sheriff Court, Merchant Square (once a fruit market, this glass roofed beauty is now full of cafes and bars), and then up to the East End to Provand’s Lordship (the oldest house in Glasgow from 1471), St Mungo’s Museum of Relgious Life & Art, Glasgow Cathedral and end at the Necropolis (this graveyard from 1831 has amazingly large gravestones indicating the wealth of Glasgow’s merchants plus a Knox statute and the best, but not very inspiring, views of Glasgow).
Glasgow Police Museum.* This is about the city police force, the oldest in the world from 1800. It has all its uniforms over the years, some of its renowned force profiled, some crimes detailed, and 100 uniforms of police forces from all over the world.
The Modern Institute.* This contemporary art museum has 2 locations showing rotating exhibitions, usually one artist per site. The one at the main site looked like a permanent show it was so well exhibited – all figures with geometric borders and intensely bright colors.
East End. The oldest part of the city, a 10-minute walk from George Square.
Glasgow Cathedral. This Gothic masterpiece with a dark, imposing interior has the last entrance at 16:30 despite the advertised closing time of 17:00.
St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life & Art.* This wonderful museum captures the world’s religions artistically – don’t miss it.
Necropolis. Like Highgate Cemetery in London, unhygienic church graveyards became unsatisfactory. By 1830, Glasgow’s population had ballooned from 70,000 to 200,000 (mainly Irish and Highlander immigrants) and graveyards became necessary. This one is special high on a hill above the cathedral.
Hampden Park
Scottish Football Museum.* This is in the basement of the Hampden Park football stadium, the home of Queens Park (there is no mention of the museum on the front of the building). You can learn way more than there is a need to know about Scottish football – every jersey, ball, and pair of shoes from all the important matches and playoffs since 1867, the first football game. I am not a fan of any sport and don’t watch NHL hockey either (the sports I do enjoy watching are badminton, snooker, golf, and some tennis).
NEW LANARK (pop 8900)
This World Heritage Site sits on the River Clyde. A cotton-spinning complex was started here in the 1780s, but it was better known for the pioneering social programs of Robert Owen who managed the mill from 1800-25. New Lanark is really a memorial to this enlightened man. He provided his workers with housing, a co-op store, the world’s first nursery school, school up to age 10, adult education classes for those aged 10-20 who had quit school to work in the mill, a sick pay fund for workers, and a social centre he called the New Institute for the Formation of Character.
The mill employed up to 2000 people in the early 1800s that had reduced to 760 by the early 1900s. It closed in 1968 and now has 45 private tenants in the restored housing.
I found this to be poorly curated and got nothing but an argument from the staff. There are no signs telling where to buy tickets or to explain the site. When a woman said we couldn’t have signed because it was World Heritage, I asked about the 10 goofy signs pointing to the Falls of Clyde with some mysterious animal on them; the signs disappeared when you got close to the falls and I never did find them. The displays are dated and too wordy. You get to go on a slow ride on plastic buckets through a multi-media talk about a 10-year old girl that takes too long and could have been done much more effectively in other ways. There is a nice walk upstream beside the river that goes to some power stations, interestingly with the same names (Bonnington and Cora Lyn) as dams on the Kootenay River west of Nelson BC. Who knows where the falls are?
I was so disappointed in the way this place was presented, I wrote a long email to the New Lanark Trust.
DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY
With gentle hills and lush valleys and a string of southern Scotland’s most idyllic towns. It is the mildest region of Scotland allowing for some famous gardens. Gretna Green is only 8 miles from Carlisle England and I have come full circle seeing almost all of Scotland and its islands in about 3 weeks.
GRETNA GREEN. This small town on the English border and the Solway Firth is known for one of the most popular tourist destinations in Scotland.
Blacksmith’s Shop. In 1754, England passed the Marriage Act forbidding couples less than 21 from getting married without parental consent. Up to this time, marriage was completely unregulated. Ceremonies had to be conducted in the church, required two witnesses, and had to be conducted in daylight hours. As a result, love-struck couples raced north to Scotland by the thousands to tie the knot and add luck to an earlier thread of romantic history. Others just came to touch the famous anvil said to bring good fortune. The marriages were performed by men who were neither priests nor blacksmiths, but simply making money on the marriage business. Some performed 4-5,000 marriages, and in its heyday, about 4-4,500 marriages were performed per year, attracting people from all walks of life.
The symbolism of the anvil comes from the blacksmiths bonding two pieces of hot metal – and when the anvil was struck, the marriage was legal. The marriage brokers produced their own ‘certificates’ only requiring the presence of two witnesses.
A new law passed by England in 1856 required that at least one of the couple be a resident of Scotland for at least 3 weeks and business declined significantly. The last legal blacksmith marriage occurred in 1940 when Scotland required registration of the marriages performed by either a priest or licensed marriage justice.
About 1,600 marriages are still performed at the shop per year. The cheapest package costs about £800 and includes 2 nights at the Smith Hotel owned by the museum. The Gretna Green marriage registration office is still the busiest in the UK.
In the 1880s, the idea started a tourism business based on the anvil marriages. Over the years a complex of restaurants, food stores, gift shops, love maze, a state park, and the hotel developed and it is still run by the same family. There are now three rooms in the museum with anvils and the original anvil in a glass case. It is a well-done museum with lots or quirky stories, wedding dresses, and rooms showing a typical household. There is also a nice collection of carriages. £3 concession
EASTRIGGS. 5 miles west of Gretna Green
Devils Porridge Museum. This celebrates the greatest munitions factory in history and the ‘munitions girls’ who worked in it. In WW I, there was a great need for munitions and the construction of this factory complex was started in September 1915 and in production by August 1916. There were 9 miles of the factory, 125 miles of railway track, 30 miles of road, and 30,000 workers employed at the HM Factory Gretna.
Raw cotton was imported in large bales and mixed with glycerin. Nitre was produced by combining nitric acid and sulfuric acid and this was mixed with the cotton by hand by the munitions girls in large shallow containers, a very dangerous job. Nitric acid fumes turned their skin bright yellow. Ether and alcohol were added and the mixture was dried in ovens and shaped into bricks to produce 1000 tons of cordite per week. The cordite was shipped to 13 ‘filling’ factories in SW Scotland where the shells were loaded with the cordite.
The 10,000 men who built the factory in record time were mostly Irish ‘navvies’ renowned for their drinking ability. Alcohol abuse caused so many problems that a ‘prohibition’ was introduced and the government took control of all pubs. The pay was high by WW I standards and 11,000 women came from all over the British Isles to work. When all the construction was finished, the men were replaced by women who rarely drank. But women only received ⅔ the wages of the men for equal work.
WW I saw 2.5 million men volunteer in 1915. Conscription was introduced for all 18-41 year-olds in 1916 to fight on the 400-mile-long Western Front that stretched from France into Belgium. The Quintinshill rail disaster was a terrible train accident when a troop train carrying 500 Scottish troops to southern England hit a stationary train and resulted in 229 deaths and 246 severely injured soldiers. Two signalmen were charged with manslaughter, received 3 years in jail but were soon pardoned.
The eventual statistics for WW I were 65 million soldiers, 8 million killed, 2 million died of illness or disease, 21.2 million were wounded, 7.8 million were taken prisoner and 6.6 million civilians died.
The factory was eventually closed in 1921 and demolished.
WW II was dealt with in the upstairs of the museum. The cordite produced (much of it in 6 factories around the Solway Firth) was much safer as it was solvent-free. Other issues discussed were the 70,000 children evacuated from the cities and moved to rural areas, the blackouts (resulted in 1,130 road accident deaths in the first month), and the suffragette movement to give women the vote in 1918.
DUMFRIES (pop 33,000). The river Nith runs through pleasant Dumfries. Robert Burns (1759-96) lived here for 10 years and worked as a tax collector and his house is a museum. He fathered more than a dozen children with several different women. He died at 37 years of age and is buried in a mausoleum in a church. Warmed by the Gulf Stream, it is the mildest region of Scotland.
Dumfries Museum & Camera Obscura. This nice museum shows the usual local history from Bronze Age through the Romans to the present. The highlight is the 1830 Camera Obscura, the oldest in the world and only one of four in the British Isles. It was not available when I was there as it was raining and grey out (it requires nice sunny weather to give the best views). But the very pleasant woman there gave me a complete tour. The camera is on the roof of an old, beautiful 4-story stone windmill, part of the museum. Enter the top floor through a curved door. Up through a narrow open column is the lens and mirror that directs an image down onto a rotating white, horizontal, round table. She then kindly showed me a video of images of Dumfries taken with the camera.
Galloway Forest. Has great views, mountain biking, good walking, and wildlife.
The Rhins of Galloway. The southern end of this 40km-long, hammer-head-shaped peninsula is the southernmost point of Scotland. The principal towns are Stranraer and the small tourist town of Portpatrick on the west coast, with steep, rugged cliffs. It receives 1000mm of rain per year, receives few touches of frost, and allows the survival of tropical plants. The flat land is good for beef and dairy farming.
Cairnryan. Six miles north of Stranraer, this is the ferry embarkation point for Northern Ireland. Two ferry lines are available. P&O has 8 fast ferries 2 hours to Larne £119. Stena Line has 5-6 fast ferries to Belfast £155.
I caught the P&O Ferry at 07:30. I arrived at 6:45 and boarded with no reservation or wait. Apparently, reservations are usually not needed. The crossing to Larne took 2 hours. The ferry was virtually empty.