Glasgow (3 page)

In any case, on revisiting the city, Glasser soon discovered that it had changed utterly. In
A Gorbals Legacy
(2000), he wrote,

This is a reminder that Glasgow, like all cities, is inchoate. As a former Lord Provost told me, it will never be finished; change is the one thing of which you can be certain. Even in the short time I've known it Glasgow has undergone a spectacular transformation. The Merchant City, where I live, is unrecognisable from the area I used to walk through to get to the
Herald
. People, too, come and go, as they must, memory of them kept alive in the names of streets, buildings, institutions, shops: Archibald Ingram, John Glassford of Dougalston, John Anderson, Kate Cranston, George Hutcheson and many, many others.
Glasgow: The Autobiography
is an attempt to tell the city's story through the words of those who witnessed it happening. By its very nature it is incomplete and subjective, but I hope that what emerges as one year succeeds another is a portrait that is sympathetic and true to its subject. With that uppermost in mind, I have selected material from diverse sources, including memoirs, newspapers and journals, historical documents, dictionaries, encyclopedias, travelogues, poetry and fiction, official reports and evidence given in court. The authors come from near and far. Many were born and bred in Glasgow, and were disinclined ever to leave. Others came and went in a day and were glad to see the back of it. It is often said of cities that they are characters in their own right. Glasgow's character, readers will find, is much more complex than the stereotype. It envelops you in its embrace, it doesn't attempt to be other than what it is, it loves to put on a show, it is resilient, optimistic, kindly, ambitious, it likes a good time, it won't be put down or put upon, it is inferior to nowhere. There is, too, an edge to it which may be a legacy of its history of dissent and the championing of the underdog, of Red Clydeside and the World War One rent strikes and the award to Nelson Mandela of the ‘Freedom of the City' when he was still incarcerated on Robben Island. It was encapsulated by Billy Connolly, without doubt the greatest comedian ever to come out of Anderston, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport in 2007. It was in part thwarted by a baggage handler called John Smeaton who, spotting what was going on while puffing on a cigarette, leapt into action and set about one of the suicide bombers even as he attempted to blow himself up. ‘What were they thinking about, bringing terror to Glasgow?' said Connolly, barely able to speak for laughing. It was one of those moments, added the Big Yin, that makes you swell with pride, that makes you want to tell the world you are a Glaswegian. ‘I come from there. That's where I come from. Don't you forget it.' Expletives have been deleted to protect readers of a sensitive nature.

PROLOGUE

GLASGOW GOT ITS NAME
John and Julia Keay

How did Glasgow come to be called Glasgow? The likelihood, as John and Julia Keay point out below, is that it is Celtic in origin and probably Gaelic. Over the years its spelling has become anglicised but its pronunciation by locals often depends on which social class they belong to. ‘Glesca' is preferred by those who do not wish to appear pretentious while those who dwell in rather more refined areas – Bearsden, Milngavie, Kelvingrove, etc – are apt to opt for ‘Glass-go'. Scots language experts suggest that ‘folk in the wast o Scotland ken it as Glesga or Glesca, and folk fae the east maistly caw it Glesga or Glesgae'. All of which may prove mystifying to visitors to the city who are often bamboozled by the native speakers. Not for nothing has Glaswegian been called the most impenetrable dialect in the United Kingdom. The story of the city's origins is similarly obscure and freighted with myth
.

The etymology of the name of Scotland's largest city is warmly disputed. Its derivation is surely Celtic and probably Gaelic, but with anglicised spellings varying widely from
glas-chu
to
glas-cun
, the component words are uncertain, let alone their precise meaning. In the heyday of the 19th-century industrialisation
glas
was taken to mean ‘grey', leading to such seemingly appropriate translations as ‘the grey blacksmith' (‘gow' suggesting
gobha
, a smith) or ‘the grey hound ferry'
cu
, a dog). Currently the favoured derivations are more pastoral and cultural, with
glas
taken to indicate ‘green' or ‘church'. Hence the popular ‘dear green place', ‘green hollow', ‘dear stream', ‘green cloister', ‘dear cloister', ‘church within the enclosed space', ‘church of Cun(tigernus) [Kentigern]', etc.

A gift to the image-makers, such uncertainty accords well with the city's occasional need to reinvent itself.

1597–1700

AN ARCHBISHOP'S SEAT

WITCHCRAFT, 1597
John Spottiswoode

The first recorded witchcraft cases in Glasgow date from 1597 and were described by John Spottiswoode, Archbishop of St Andrews (1565–1639), in his
History of the Church and State of Scotland,
published in 1655. In 1563, an Act regarding ‘witchcraft, sorcery and necromancy' was passed by the Scottish Parliament. These were punishable by death and judges were expected to be unsparing of those who practised them. The goal was to eradicate evil in all its supposed forms. Around 80 per cent of the victims of witchcraft accusations and trials were women. It is estimated that there were 1,337 executions for witchcraft in Scotland. The last execution for this crime was that of Janet Horne in Dornoch in 1727
.

This summer there was a great business for the trial of witches. Amongst others one Margaret Atkin [the great witch of Balwearie], being apprehended upon suspicion, and threatened with torture, did confess herself guilty. Being examined touching her associates in that trade, she named a few, and perceiving her dilations find credit, made offer to detect all of that sort, and to purge the country of them, so she might have her life granted. For the reason of her knowledge, she said, ‘That they had a secret mark all of that sort, in their eyes, whereby she could surely tell, how soon she looked upon any, whether they were witches or not' and in this way she was so readily believed, that for the space of three or four months she was carried from town to town to make discoveries of that kind. Many were brought in question by her dilations, especially at Glasgow, where divers innocent women, through the credulity of the minister, Mr John Cowper, were condemned and put to death. In the end she was found to be a mere deceiver . . . and was sent back to Fife.

HEAD COVERING, 1604
Glasgow Kirk Session

The influence of the Church of Scotland – the Kirk – has been incalculable and far-reaching. John Knox (1513–72) is often believed to have been at the root of much misogyny, famously inveighing against ‘the monstrous regiment [rule] of women'. Whether he is deserving of the considerable opprobrium that has been heaped upon him is debateable. What is clear, however, is that the history of Presbyterianism – like that of virtually all religions – has been male-dominated and that many of its more oppressive, and ridiculous, edicts have been directed at women
.

No woman, married or unmarried, come within kirk doors, to preachings or prayers, with their plaids about their heads . . . The session considering that great disorder hath been in the kirk, by women sitting with their heads covered in time of sermon, sleeping that way, ordains intimation to be made that none sit with their heads covered with plaid in time of sermon.

A CLOSET LINED WITH IRON, 1 JULY, 1636
Sir William Brereton

An English writer and politician, Sir William Brereton (1604–61) was a commander in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil war. Born in Manchester, he studied at Oxford. Interested in field sports, he built a duck decoy at Dodleston, Cheshire, which proved to be something of a commercial success. In 1636, he travelled through north-eastern England and lowland Scotland and thereafter to Ireland, recording his impressions as he went
.

We came to the city of Glasgow, which is thirty-six miles from Edinburgh, eighteen from Failkirke. This is an archbishop's seat, an ancient university, one only college consisting of about one hundred and twenty students, wherein are four schools, one principal, four regents. There are about six or seven hundred communicants, and about twenty thousand persons in the town, which is famous for the church, which is fairest and stateliest in Scotland, for the Toll-boothe and Bridge.

The church I viewed this day, and found it a brave and ancient piece. It was said, in this church this day, that there was a contribution
throughout Europe (even Rome itself contributed) towards the building thereof. There is a great partition or wall 'twixt the body of the church and the chancel; there is no use of the body of the church, only divine service and sermon is used and performed in the quire or chancel, which is built and framed church-wise; and under this quire there is also another church, which carries the same proportion under this, wherein also there is two sermons every Lord's day.

The Toll-boothe, which is placed in the middle of the town, and near unto the cross and market-place, is a very fair and high-built house, from the top whereof, being leaded, you may take a full view and prospect of the whole city. In one of these rooms or chambers sits the council of this city; in other of the rooms or chambers preparation is made for the lords of the council to meet in these stately rooms. Herein is a closet lined with iron: walls, top, bottom, floor, and door, iron; wherein are kept the evidences and records of the city: this made, to prevent the danger of fire. This Toll-booth said to be the fairest in this kingdom: the revenues belonging to this city are about £1000 per annum. This town is built: two streets, which are built like a cross, in the middle of both which the cross is placed, which looks four ways into four streets, though indeed they be but two straight streets; the one reaching from the church to the bridge, a mile long – the other which crosseth, that is much shorter.

We lodged in Mr David Weyme's house; his wife's name is Margrett Cambell (the wives in Scotland never change, but always retain, their own names), no stabling hereunto belonging; in the town we were constrained to provide stabling. I paid 5
d
. for pease straw, for my straw; no hay would be gotten. We paid for victuals, dinner, and breakfast, seven persons, two rix-dollars.