The swimming baths have been long closed, so any of the folk of Maryhill desirous of a swim and not fancying the canal must find their way to Scotstoun, several miles away. There are no other public sports facilities in Maryhill, none.
Housing, sports and arts facilities, as well as marinas for boats and even a hotel are being mooted for the various brown land sites along its banks. The baths have gone, and the closure of works like Bryant and May, which provided sports facilities including a quoits pitch for their workers has further encouraged a sedentary lifestyle.
But some try. The Maryhill Juniors engage in a sport bearing some resemblance to football, and have produced such greats as Danny McGrain from their ranks — though the last time they won the Junior Cup was in The most popular sport amongst the locals would appear to be fishing in the canal. I asked one if he ever caught anything and whether it was fit to eat. Bit ah never eat it, Ah hate fish. In his interesting little book Memories of Maryhill, Roderick Williamson tells of his interwar childhood, growing up in Braeside Street, amongst the respectable working classes, adding that gangs, violence and criminality were markedly absent from this area of No Mean City — as was sectarianism.
This was the most respectable part of Maryhill, at the very edge of the historical burgh and bordering on posh North Kelvinside. Jock Nimlin, the greatest of the Glasgow working class mountaineers also came from hereabouts. His family were Finnish immigrants, Methodists and ILP members, and Jock worked in the shipyards for many years, before writing and radio work led to a job with the National Trust. Today it is the headquarters of the Mackintosh Society, and is open to visitors at certain times.
Signs are however that living beside the canal is now being seen as a plus, and there are plans to build apartments alongside its banks. From here to Ruchill Street, Maryhill Road retains its original unbroken tenement line, and Ruchill Street itself has a Mackintosh connection, in that the Church Halls, where you can drop in for a cup of tea and a keek, are his work — though not the church itself. Further up the road we are in the heart of present-day Maryhill, with the site of the barracks on the left.
The main other building of note hereabouts is the public library on the right side of Maryhill Road, built in , as were so many others in Glasgow, with help from Alexander Carnegie. It has fine sculptures and a separate entrance for Boys and Girls. Passing under an aqueduct which carries the canal over the road you come to the part of Maryhill most associated with the waterway. On the left are soon seen Maryhill docks, locks and dry dock — with the associated Kelvin Aquedect- one of the biggest complex of canal construction associated with the entire feat of engineering a canal across Scotland.
Still standing too is The White House, a pub dating from the days of canal construction. However a canalbank hotel built for those using the waterway, which had a 24 hour licence to deal with the constant canal traffic, has gone.
The White House in particular, a graffiti-sprayed eyesore, only needs restoration to re-emerge as a cameo to grace the canalbank. On 26 May a fleet of 40 vessels sailed from Falkirk to Bowling, ceremonially reopening the canal.
Now holiday operators are offering barge cruises from Glasgow to Falkirk-or all the way to Edinburgh. This is a revival of the use the folk of Maryhill put the canal to.
Their Doon the Watter was a cruise, in boats like the Gypsy Queen which ran from to , along the canal to Kilsyth or further, with jazz bands playing. Until the closure of the canal in the weans of Maryhill would help the yachtsmen and fishermen who latterly frequented it, to open the various lock gates, and as reward hitch a lift as far as Clydebank or even Bowling. It is unlikely however, that any hitched a lift on the midget submarine which negotiated the canal in Maryhill Dock is a good point to transfer from Maryhill Road to the canal banks, and retrace steps south, ending up almost where we started.
Landscaped, cleaned up and devoted to leisure pursuits, the canal still shows the evidence of its past as the industrial artery of Scotland, and of Maryhill in particular. The economic life of the burgh was so varied that pointing out a few of the more prominent factories, or their remains, is the best policy.
The locks at Maryhill had a dock-slipway, still visible, where boat building took place from The dock is still commemorated in a pub opposite its tenement gone , called The Kelvin Dock.
As the canal snakes towards Glasgow, the main branch heads from the Stockingfield Junction towards Falkirk. A confused jumble of buildings now occupies the ground of the former Kelvin Chemical Works, behind which lies the stadium if that is not too grand a statement, of Maryhill F. As you proceed on your right there is a culvert leading water from the canal to the site of the former works. This handsome building, now fronted by a rather faded mural about the delights of the canal, has been converted to non-industrial use.
With the remains of its own canalside wharfs, and working till a few years ago, the factory is now rubble and ruins, and being redeveloped for housing.
The canal bends, and soon, on the opposite side where now only coots and swans survey the doings of the coarse anglers by the canal banks, are the sites of the two Maryhill glass factories, the Caledonia Works producing bottles and jars, and the Glasgow Works manufacturing plate glass.
Much of this land is now taken up by Glasgow University student village. The underpassing of the delighfully restored Nolly Brig brings you to Firhill Basin. The ironworks of Shaw and MacInnes survived miraculously until the year , and next to that also on the canal, were found the Phoenix chemical works, alas not rising from the ashes, like the mythical bird they were named after.
Both works long used the Firhill Basin to transport their products from Maryhill to market. Shaw and MacInnes had originally, like the Swans at Kelvindock, brought their skilled ironworkers from Falkirk; appropriately they came by the canal. One can take a short walk up to Ruchill Park for a fine view of the city, from its high point, created by building a mini mountain from the rubble left after the construction of Ruchill Hospital. By now you will have a good idea of where the inspiration for those stained glass windows in the Burgh Hall came from.
And will understand how the Forth and Clyde Canal gave birth to Maryhill. Ian R Mitchell, the author of Unlocking Maryhill, is so gratified by the response to the article, that he has written a further contribution which will be of interest and encouragement to all those who have written in so far.
I am looking for information as to the possible current location of a memorial plaque which use to be on the walls on the long vanished Garscube Bar in Garscube Road. Over men from this street volunteered for the war and Lyon Street became famous as the most decorated street in Britain. Since the demolition of the pub in , the location of the plaque has been lost.
Anyone with information should contact me, stobx btinternet. When we moved this page to our new content management system we could not bring over the comments. The comments are archived on this page. Filed under: maryhill , Writing. Prevous page or post Next page or post. West End based web Developer, writer, songwriter and musician. And the person who takes lots of photos for the Glasgow West End website.
Does anyone know Bobby Robert Johnson? He served in the Merchant Marines as a cook in I would like to know what happened to him after I immigrated to Canada in If you know him or of him please leave a comment.
I am looking for information on Elaine Black Anderson. I lost touch with her through the years and would to re-connect with her. If you have any information I would appreciate if you would leave a comment. Many thanks. Hi, I am looking for any information anyone has about an orphanage on or near Lyon street. My grandfather was from there and used to mention Lyon street. Robert McEwan was his name. One of the many benefits of living on an island is the sea! Here are seven of our favourite surf spots in Britain for you to take to the waves.
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Life expectancy for males and females is very similar to the Glasgow average. The percentage of the population living in income and employment deprivation is also very similar to the Glasgow average.
Life expectancy for both males and females has risen in recent years in North Maryhill and Summerston. Life expectancy for both males and females has been very similar to the Glasgow average throughout the period shown.
A document giving detailed notes and definitions for the information presented in this profile can be downloaded here. An Excel workbook containing the data used in all of the profiles can be downloaded here. This workbook also includes alternative output formats and further breakdowns of some of the variables.
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