A new book delves into the archives to tell the story of famous old streets and places in Glasgow.
‘Old Partickhill, Hyndland and Thornwood’ by local author Lewis Hutton presents a fascinating account of neighbouring West End suburbs, their reasons for being and some of the stories around their development.
Things like the cinema that nearly came to Hyndland around 100 years ago.
Proposals were slated for the site that is now the Lauderdale Building of Hyndland Secondary School.
Postcards
Back in the 1920s, plans were advanced and approved by Glasgow’s Dean of Guild for Associated British Cinemas’ (or ABC) for a super cinema that included “tearooms, waiting rooms and plenty of car parking”.
But the Education Department blocked the proposal and acquired the land to extend the school, so Hyndland never got a cinema, “and plans for one at Broomhill Cross between Clarence Drive and Crow Road were also unfulfilled”.
Many of the old photos are taken from postcards of the time.
One shows the little run of shops on Hyndland Road, built in 1911, that today is home to Nostrana restaurant, Pampas fashion boutique and Corum estates agents, among others.
Some of the photographs in the Hyndland section of the book were produced and sold as postcards by the newsagent F.H. Chisholm, who traded from the end premises, formerly Tabak grocers and now Nostrana.
The Thomlinson ‘T Football was the most famous make of ball in Britain in the early to mid-20th century: William’s brother John owned the adjacent printworks and produced advertising materials for the leather works.
According to Hutton, “Chisholm’s was an institution, and people stll called it Chisholm’s long after the name had changed to Tabak, It ceased to be a newsagent in 2017.
“Hyndland Road itself is an ancient route, part of a network of old drove roads funnelling livestock to the Byres of Partick. Its southern end, instead of meeting Hyndland Street would once have continued more directly towards Partick Cross, but was cut short by the owners of Dowanhill House when they enclosed the land of their estate.”
The book is full of revealing snippets researched from newspaper archives and the National Library of Scotland, as well as drawing on respected histories of the areas.
The book complements last year’s ‘Old Partick’ by the same author, which tells the story of the burgh’s industrial rise and how its existence is was entwined with the River Clyde.
This latest illustrated history in the familiar Stenlake Old Towns format covers everything west of the railway line from Partick Sstation, south of Broomhill Cross and east of Balshagray Road, as well as the better understood districts named in the title.
The book includes lots of quiet street scenes in the days of the horse and cart and the electric tram.
AIt also includes Hyndland Station, a nice old motor bus climbing Clarence Drive and a view of a tram descending it, Hyndland Sschool, bowling greens, the former Crow Road Station, the making of the Clydeside Expressway, Meadowside Granary, Merkland Quay and much more.
The photos are all accompanied by detailed, informative captions.
Local history
The cover itself is an image looking west from the railway bridge across Dumbarton Road that carried the North British Railway’s line to Stobcross Quay and Queen Street Low Level.
Its caption reads: “A team of men is working on the junction of the tram line leading to Partick Tramway Depot in Hayburn Street.
“On the right-hand side of the street are Thomlinson’s shops which were connected to William Thomlinson’s Greenbank Leather Works in Norval Street behind them. Among other leather goods such as saddles and shoe they produced footballs.
“The Thomlinson ‘T Football was the most famous make of ball in Britain in the early to mid-20th century: William’s brother John owned the adjacent printworks and produced advertising materials for the leather works. The company went into voluntary liquidation in 1983. The leather and print works were demolished soon after and flats built.”
Local history books make a great coffee table read, but also help make sense of the streets and buildings that continue to shape lives and businesses in this part of the city today.
Old Partickhill, Hyndland and Thornwood by Lewis Hutton is published by Stenlake Publishing Ltd, ISBN 9781840339949, 48 pages 51 illustrations £11.95.
More information and orders can be found at https://stenlake.co.uk/books/new-books.php
