Glasgow Green

Glasgow Green is the oldest and most probably largest park in central Glasgow, with records of its existence dating back to 1450, and covering some 136 acres. But in those early days it was probably little more that a swampy, uneven grassland. The park was really a collection of ‘greens’, including the High Green, Low Green, Gallowgate Green and Calton Green, and Flesher's Haugh. It remained in this state until early in the nineteenth century when the area was drained and levelled.

The McLennan Arch

The arch looking west, with the pillars of the old Glasgow court building in the background.

The McLennan Arch stands at the Saltmarket entrance to Glasgow Green. The arch was once part of the Assembly Rooms building in Ingram Street. When the building was demolished in the 1890s, the arch was preserved. It has been in its current position since 1922.

James Watt statue

Legend has it that one day in 1765, James Watt was enjoying a stroll in the park when he came up with the idea of a separate condenser for his steam engine. Some people attribute the birth of the Industrial revolution to this event.

Glasgow Green stome with James Watt inscription

This stone bears the inscription:
"Near this spot in 1765 James Watt conceived the idea of the separate condenser for the steam engine patented 1769"

Nelson's Monument

The monument was erected in 1806, and was one of the first monuments erected to commemorate Nelson’s victories. It was originally 44 metres tall but the top six metres was removed by a lightning strike in 1810. This was later restored and a lightning rod fitted.

The inscription in the stone below the monument reads:

“Standing forty-four metres high, this obelisk, designed by the architect David Hamilton and built by the mason A. Brockett, was the first civic monument in Britain to Nelson’s victories. The money to build the monument was raised by public subscription and the foundation stone was laid on Friday 1^st August 1806.

The south face of the monument is inscribed ‘Aboukir 1 August 1798’. This refers to the Battle of the Nile (also referred to as the Battle of Aboukir Bay) a major naval battle fought between British (under Nelson) and French (under Napoleon) fleets.

The Drying Green

In 1732 a wash house (or steamie as it was called in Glasgow) was opened next to Glasgow Green. The drying green was an area where wash house patrons would dry their washing in the open air. Though the wash house closed in 1820, the drying green continued to be used until the 1970s.

The inscription reads, ‘For centuries, Glasgow Green served as the common washing green for the city. With improvements to sanitation and the introduction of piped water to people’s homes, this tradition largely dried out. However, the Victorian clothes poles originally erected to serve the nearby public wash houses were still in use as late as the 1970s. One of the more unusual rights acquired by freemen of Glasgow is to dry their clothes on Glasgow Green.’

James Martin Memorial Fountain

James Henderson Martin was a Glasgow councillor and magistrate in the 1880s, a member of the Clyde Navigation Trust, a Justice of the Peace and a police judge. The drinking fountain was erected in 1893 after his death. It’s sometimes known as the Saracen Fountain, after the foundry where it was made.

The fountain was originally sited at the intersection of Pollokshaws Road and Langside Avenue on the edge of Queen’s Park south of the city centre. It has now been relocated to the junction of Templeton Street and Arcadia Street.

St. Andrew's Suspension Bridge

The St. Andrew's Suspension Bridge was opened in 1855. It connects Hutchesontown on the south of the River Clyde, to Glasgow Green. The bridge was built to provide workers with a safe and fast way of crossing the river. They had previously used a ferry service near the site of the bridge.

William Collins fountain

This fountain was erected in 1881 to commemorate Sir William Collins, Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1877 to 1880 and a leading figure in the temperance movement.

The Doulton Fountain

The fountain was a gift to Glasgow from Sir Henry Doulton, an English pottery manufacturer. Originally part of the International Exhibition of 1888, it was moved to the Green in 1890. It’s the largest terracotta fountain in the world measuring 48 feet high and with a 70 foot wide basin. It was built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s reign and features life-size statues of water-carriers from Australia, Canada, India and South Africa. At that time all four of these countries were part of the British Empire.

Glasgow Green Doulton Fountain inscription

The inscription reads, ‘Designed by A.F. Pearce and modelled by students from the Lambeth School of Art, the fountain was first erected in Kelvingrove Park for the International Exhibition of 1888. It was moved to Glasgow Green in 1890 and to its present site in 2004. The fountain depicts Britain’s four colonies: Australia, Canada, India and South Africa, with soldiers and sailors above and Queen Victoria presiding at the apex. Standing fourteen metres high, it is the largest terracotta fountain in the world.

The People’s Palace

The People's Palace was opened in 1898. It was originally intended and used as a place for cultural activity for the people of the east end. Since the 1940’s is has been the permanent home of a museum of the history of Glasgow.

The Winter Garden

The Winter Gardens is a Victorian glasshouse that sits to the rear of the People’s Palace. A home for exotic plants, it also provides some respite against the cold on a trip to the park in winter.

Hugh MacDonald well

Erected in 1883, this well commemorates the poetry of Hugh MacDonald whose poems were published in a number of Glasgow newspapers. The inscription on the well reads:

"The bonnie wee well on the Breist of the Brae

Where the hare steals to drink in the gloamin’ sae gray

Where the wild moorlan’ birds dip their nebs and tak’ wing

And the lark weets his whistle ere mounting to sing.”

Castle Boynes Gate

This entrance is on Greendyke Street. The inscription reads:

“For centuries, Glasgow Green was the common washing green for the city. Local women would trample clothes in large, wooden tubs known as ‘boynes’. The practice of stacking these tubs created impressive constructions which some people, fancifully, likened to castles, giving this area its special local name of ‘Castle Boynes’.”

Mumford’s Gate