This is not dissimilar SGHET’s own mission ‘to recognise the importance of heritage, history, and environment issues in South Glasgow and to implement a strategy towards greater knowledge for all.’ [2]

But while historic and heritage trusts are founded on the belief that historic places matter, the work to preserve and protect South Glasgow’s built environment is not solely the purview of heritage organisations.

Kinning Park Complex

For example, on 3 May 1996, residents of South Glasgow began a 55-day sit-in to save the Kinning Park Complex, built in 1911 as an addition to the Lambhill Street School.  In 1976, it was converted to a neighbourhood centre that offered a significant benefit to local residents.

However, when the Council scheduled it for closure in 1996, the community rallied and was eventually given stewardship of the building.  Though it has seen challenges with funding and maintenance since then, due to community involvement and heritage funding, a newly refurbished centre is scheduled to reopen this year. [3]

Govanhill Baths

Likewise, the Govanhill Baths, built in 1914, were threatened with closure in 2001.  On 21 March 2001, several residents occupied the building , some even chaining themselves to the cubicles.  On 7 August 2001, the Battle of Calder Street ensued when the Council and police tried to forcibly remove the Save Our Pool protestors. (N.B. The original protest website has been preserved online and can be viewed here.)

The successful occupation lasted a total of 140 days, the longest ever of a British public building, and in 2004, the Govanhill Baths Community Trust was formed to refurbish the building and return it to public use. [4]

The campaign to reopen the baths has gone on for over 20 years with adaptive restoration now finally commenced, and in the meantime, Govanhill Baths, a grass-roots activist organisation, used the space – and uses other places locally –  to provide ‘wide-ranging health, wellbeing, arts, environmental and heritage projects’ in an effort to regenerate the neighbourhood and meet the needs of the community. [5]

Govanhill Baths’ current website includes an archive of the building’s importance to Govanhill over the past 100+ years, which includes oral histories of residents describing their experiences at the Baths. [6]

It is clear that historic places matter, not only as heritage from the past but as part of our present and future well-being.  They are places where people come together and where a sense of community thrives, especially when they are championed by neighbourhood-based groups.

While we may come from vastly different backgrounds, the built heritage of South Glasgow is something we all share.  Part of the purpose of the South Glasgow Heritage and Environment Trust is to foster this sense of community among the people who live south of the Clyde, whether we have lived here for generations or are new arrivals.

Our built heritage has an impact on us, whether we are fully aware of it or not.  But why is this?  Why do historic places matter? And why should city planners and urban developers care?

These very questions were posed in a study led by Dr Rebecca Madgin of the University of Glasgow.  In their recent report Why Do Historic Places Matter? Emotional Attachments to Urban Heritage, Dr Madgin and her team sought to answer two questions:

1. How and why do people develop emotional attachments to historic urban places?
2. How do these attachments influence decision making within the urban environment?

Using evidence from Scotland and England primarily focused on the time period from 1975 to 2019, the findings of the report were supported by analyses of documents, as well as oral histories and ‘workshops which captured the thoughts and feelings of people involved with and/or impacted by urban change, including built environment professionals and local residents.’ [7]

Emotional connections are magnified in times of change

Dr Madgin’s project recognised the fact that emotional attachments are often not worn on our sleeves and rise to the surface most often during times of change.  This is clearly demonstrated by the efforts to save community buildings in Kinning Park and Govanhill and the continued work of groups like SGHET and the National Trust for Scotland. [8]

The report noted that previous research had tended to focus on economic or sustainability outcomes, but it argued for the need of ‘more engagement with the emotional dimensions of heritage by demonstrating just some of the ways in which emotion…shapes the reasons why and extent to which historic urban places can continue to matter.’ [9]

It is of note that this is exactly how the Kinning Park Complex addressed its own refurbishment, by hiring New Practice, an architectural group that aims ‘to connect people with the decision making processes that underpin the urban experience.’ [10]

Unfortunately, though, urban developers have often not given much regard to the emotional impact of change on communities, whether it be positive, negative, or neutral.  This was one of the major issues during the housing development boom in mid-century Glasgow, when residents were moved from homes in communities where they had lived, sometimes for generations, and alienated in high-rise flats that were likened to ‘an architectural representation of a filing cabinet’ by Jimmy Reid in 1972. [11]

Instead, Dr Madgin’s team, among others working in heritage, notes that more value can be given to people-centred approaches, rather than solely relying on top-down, expert-based decision-making processes.  Doing so would offer ‘a rebalance between what is valued and who ascribes value [in order to increase] focus on pluralising heritage values in ways that can include different voices and places.’ [12]  In other words, the communities where historic places exist would have some say in determining the landscape of their built heritage.

Old Victoria Infirmary incident in February 2022

It is clear, however, that developers and the Council are still hit-and-miss in the ways they engage communities in meaningful ways before selling, repurposing, closing down, or demolishing the South Glasgow built heritage.

Most recently, there was public outcry when Sanctuary tore down the iconic 133-year-old cupolas of the Old Victoria Infirmary after failing to adequately engage with community groups who proactively sought to give input and were largely ignored.

In 2018, a community-led group called the Victoria Forum made several public attempts to address Sanctuary’s masterplan with regard to development of the formerly public-owned building, noting specifically the insufficient attention paid to a ‘lack of social or economic analysis’ and ‘public realm and place-making outside the site boundary.’ [13]

While the group made recommendations that were generally more focused on best use and outcomes, they also acknowledged the impact redevelopment of the Old Victoria Infirmary would have on social bonds and identity.

Sanctuary, rather than meeting with the Victoria Forum or attending any of the many community sessions they hosted, responded that their ‘wide-ranging consultation process saw more than 600 people attend a series of open sessions to express their views on the design and redevelopment of the site’ and that the ‘vast majority of local residents [were] happy with the outcome and cannot wait to see our plans come to life.’ [14]

However, 600 people is arguably not an adequate representation of the community, and there is no indication as to what was discussed at these sessions or what the local residents were specifically ‘happy with’. [15]  One can convincingly argue, though, that based on the sustained response from the Victoria Forum and the shock exhibited by locals when the cupolas were destroyed, neither Sanctuary nor the Council adequately addressed public needs and emotional attachments to the old building.

On Twitter, Past Glasgow wrote, ‘I was standing near the gate and nearly every person who walked past was looking at and talking about the destruction.  The sense that something has been lost was palpable.’1⁶  Luckily, the B-listed administrative block, the Gatehouse building, and the Nightingale Pavilions will escape the same fate.

Langside Hall

In contrast, a larger segment of the community has already been engaged to provide input regarding changes in use at Langside Hall, which is owned by the Council and managed by Glasgow Life.  In 1902, the building was painstakingly moved from Queen Street to its current location in Queen’s Park to fulfil the Council’s commitment to provide the Southside with a public building.

There was little investment in the upkeep of the building from about the 1970s on, and once the upper floor had deteriorated to unsafe conditions and the boiler failed in 2017, the building was closed.  Langside Halls Trust has taken on the responsibility of conducting a feasibility study, securing funding, and ensuring community engagement to reopen the building as ‘a fully accessible, larger (40%) and more flexible venue, with more social space and one that is environmentally sustainable for a building that is Grade A listed.’ [17]

As the Trust began to gather feedback from the community, they found that of the respondents to a questionnaire regarding use, over 80% would like to see films and live music, 79% would like a theatre, 74% wanted space for art exhibitions, and over 60% were interested in comedy shows and classes for exercise, arts, and crafts. [18]

While full funding has yet to be fully secured, both Architectural Heritage Fund Scotland and Glasgow City Heritage Trust are currently on board, and there is hope that some funding might be forthcoming from the Council’s People Make Glasgow Communities initiative. [19]

So while the preservation of historic sites is difficult to guarantee, it seems clear that such places are important to the heritage and well-being of local communities.  The desire of so many local residents to maintain the use and their everyday experience of places such as the Kinning Park Complex, Govanhill Baths, and Langside Hall, as well as the dismay at the loss of the everyday sight of the Old Victoria Infirmary cupolas on the Southside’s landscape demonstrate that historic places do matter.

The people of the Southside do have emotional attachments to their built heritage, and developers and government entities should, as Dr Madgin urges, take a greater interest in this reality as they plan for inevitable change.

By Erin Burrows

Published 16th March 2022

References

[1] National Trust for Scotland, ‘What We Do’, National Trust for Scotland (National Trust for Scotland, 2022), https://www.nts.org.uk/ <https://www.nts.org.uk/what-we-do> [accessed 14 February 2022].

[2] ‘About Us’, SGHET <https://sghet.com/about-us/> [accessed 14 February 2022].

[3] ‘About’, Kinning Park Complex <https://www.kinningparkcomplex.org/about> [accessed 14 February 2022].

[4] ‘Occupy: 20th Anniversary Celebrations’, Govanhill Baths, 2021 <https://www.govanhillbaths.com/archive/occupy-2/> [accessed 14 February 2022].

[5] ‘Govanhill Baths’, Govanhill Baths <https://www.govanhillbaths.com/> [accessed 14 February 2022].

[6] ‘Before Closure’, Govanhill Baths, 2020 <https://www.govanhillbaths.com/archive/before-closure/> [accessed 14 February 2022].

[7] Rebecca Madgin, Why Do Historic Places Matter? Emotional Attachments to Urban Heritage <https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/research/urbanstudies/projects/whydohistoricplacesmatter/> [accessed 16 March 2022], (Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2021), p. 1.

[8] Madgin, p. 8.

[9] Madgin, p. 8.

[10] ‘New Practice’, New Practice <https://new-practice.co.uk> [accessed 14 February 2022].

[11] James Reid, Alienation (Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 1972), p. 10.

[12] Madgin, p. 1.

[13] Victoria Forum, ‘Victoria Forum Responds to Developer Masterplan’, Victoria Forum, 2018 <https://newoldvickydotorg.wordpress.com/2018/01/21/victoria-forum-responds-to-developer-masterplan/> [accessed 4 March 2022].

[14] ‘Council Criticised for Failure to Support Community during Victoria Infirmary Development’, Glasgow Times <https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/16832820.council-criticised-failure-support-community-victoria-infirmary-development/> [accessed 4 March 2022].

[15] ‘Council Criticised’.

[16] Past Glasgow (@PastGlasgow, 21 February 2022), ‘I was standing near the gate and nearly every person who walked past was looking at and talking about the destruction.  The sense that something has been lost was palpable.’ (tweet) <https://twitter.com/PastGlasgow/status/1495844779363549190> [accessed 4 March 2022].

[17] Langside Area Partnership, ‘Update, Langside Halls Trust’ (Glasgow City Council, 2021) <https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/Councillorsandcommittees/viewDoc.asp?c=P62AFQDNZL2U0GT1DN> [accessed 4 March 2022].

[18] Drew Sandelands and Gary Armstrong, ‘Langside Halls Revamp Proposal Released as Glaswegians Asked to Give Their Views’, GlasgowLive, 2021 <https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/langside-halls-revamp-proposal-released-19821827> [accessed 4 March 2022].

[19] Langside Area Partnership, p. 1.

Further reading:

Borysławski, Rafał, and Alicja Bemben, eds., Emotions as Engines of History (Oxon: Routledge, 2022)

Contested Histories in Public Spaces: Principles, Processes, Best Practices (London: International Bar Association, 2021)

Maerker, Anna, Simon Sleight, and Adam Sutcliffe, eds., History, Memory and Public Life: The Past in the Present (London: Routledge, 2018)

Marchant, Alicia, ed., Historicising Heritage and Emotions: The Affective Histories of Blood, Stone and Land (Oxon: Routledge, 2019)

Martin, Claire, and Charles Landry, ‘Charles Landry: Applying Emotional Intelligence’, Landscape Architecture Australia, 151, 2016, 40–43

Scottish Government, Our Place in Time: The Historic Environment Strategy for Scotland (Edinburgh: Scottish Government, 2014)

Sullivan, Gavin Brent, ‘Collective Pride, Happiness, and Celebratory Emotions’, in Collective Emotions, ed. by Christian von Scheve and Mikko Salmela (Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 266–80

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Queen’s Park and Langside synagogues form a fascinating part of South Glasgow’s heritage.

Scotland’s Jewish Community

Many Jewish people moved to the UK in the twenty years leading up to World War I, fleeing the Russian pogroms, with later generations moving to Glasgow, as a result of Nazi persecution. The Scottish Jewish community was once considerable, with about 15,000 Jewish people living in Glasgow in 1939. While some communities were established in Garnethill, many settled in areas such as the Gorbals, Govanhill, Battlefield, Langside, and Shawlands. The Gorbals was a real hub, with a Zionist Centre (which later moved to Queen Square), the Jewish Institute, the Jewish Board of Guardians, and the majority of the synagogues, kosher butchers, bakers, and Jewish grocery shops. Sophie Geneen also ran Geneen’s Hotel in the Gorbals, where she dispensed charity and food to those in need.

Synagogues in the Southside

Further south, Queen’s Park Synagogue was founded in 1906, and moved to a substantial new building in Falloch Road in 1926. About the same time, Langside Synagogue, originally founded in 1915, moved to Niddrie Road. In later years synagogues were established in Pollokshields (1929), Giffnock and Newlands (1934), Netherlee and Clarkston (1940) and Newton Mearns (1954). A Reform synagogue opened in Pollokshields in 1931, and later moved to Newton Mearns. A short-lived community was also established in Hillington, Mosspark and Cardonald (1937). Queen’s Park eventually closed in 2002; Langside Synagogue remained active for longer but closed in 2014.

Queen’s Park Synagogue

Land in Lochleven Road, donated by Sir John Stirling Maxwell for a nominal sum, was to become the Queen’s Park Synagogue. Plans were put on hold during World War I. A ‘tin Shool’ of concrete with a corrugated metal roof was constructed temporarily. Surviving plans show a simple building with pitched roof covered with asbestos tiles. The official Queen’s Park synagogue opened in the mid-1920s. It was designed by McWhannell & Smellie, with a red-painted and rendered Romanesque artificial stone façade. It was closed in 2003 and was converted into flats. The synagogue’s stained-glass windows by the Scottish glassmaker John K. Clark, made to mark Glasgow City of Culture in 1989, were moved to Giffnock Synagogue, and the Ark was salvaged and re-used in a new-build synagogue in Manchester.

Langside Synagogue

Langside Synagogue was established on Langside Road in 1915. The synagogue moved to 125 Niddrie Road, to a design by architects Jeffrey Waddell & Young with a Romanesque style façade. It re-opened in 1927, and was home to the Langside Hebrew Congregation. The building has a traditional immigrant shul interior. The Ark (two-tiers made of timber and gilding in traditional Eastern European style), bimah and decorative details including the clock on the gallery front were carved by a Lithuanian-born cabinet-maker called Harris Berkovitch (c. 1876–1956), who was a member of the congregation. Woodcarving and wall-painting in folk-art style was a characteristic of synagogue building particularly in Poland, Ukraine, and Romania. The tall upper tier includes large gilded Luhot (Tablets of the Law) with painted glass panels to either side, and the pediment contains a Keter Torah (Crown of the Torah) with gilded sunrays, both motifs found in traditional Jewish art. It is one of the only two (the other being in London) truly Eastern European-style synagogue interiors in Britain!

Contribute to Our Archive of the Southside

If you have memories or any artefacts relating to South Glasgow’s synagogues and Jewish history, please get in touch with us: info@sghet.com. We are seeking memories, local knowledge, donations and photocopies of material relating to the Southside for our archive of South Glasgow!

Sources:

• Canmore
• Kenneth E. Collins, Ephraim Borowski, and Leah Granat. Scotland’s Jews: A Guide to The History and Community of The Jews in Scotland. 2^nd ed. (Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, 2008).
• Sharman Kadish. ‘Jewish Heritage in Scotland’. Jewish Historical Studies 47 (2015): 179-216
• Langside Hebrew Congregation
• Scottish Jewish Archives Centre
• The Glasgow Story

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Langside Battlefield Memorial was erected in 1887 to commemorate the defeat of Mary Queen of Scots at the Battle of Langside, 300 years after her death. It marks the spot where Mary’s forces fought those of her half-brother, James Stewart, Regent Moray, on May 13th, 1568.

The memorial stands at roughly 18 metres (58 feet), on a roundabout just south of Queen’s Park, at the junction of Langside Avenue and Battlefield Road. The foundation stone was laid by J. Wyllie, and the completed memorial was unveiled by Sir James King in 1887. The memorial was designed by Alexander Skirving (friend of Alexander ‘The Greek’ Thomson), who beat eleven other architects in the competition for the contract.

During construction, plans of the monument, a copy of Walter Scott’s 1820 historical novel The Abbott (which features the battle), and newspapers and coins of the day were buried under the structure (Historic Scotland). At the base of the memorial a plaque reads:

‘The battle of Langside was fought on this ground on 13 May 1568 between the forces of Mary Queen of Scots and the Regent Moray, and marked the queen’s final defeat in Scotland.’

The memorial was sculpted by Glaswegian James Young, and the column features ‘carvings of thistles, roses, and fleur-de-lis, symbols of Mary’s time spent in Scotland, England and France respectively. At the foot of the column four eagles perch on the corners of the pedestal, while high above them, a lion sits at the top, its paw draped over a cannon ball’ (Discover Scotland). Young allegedly worked for free, and the total cost of the monument was around £1,000.

The Battle of Langside was one of the most significant battles to take place in Glasgow. Mary had returned to Scotland from France after the death of her husband Francis II. She then married the Catholic Lord Darnley, but he was assassinated in 1567, and that same year Mary married one of the Presbyterian earls suspected of the murder, James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. Both marriages scandalised Protestant Scottish leaders, who rose up against her. They imprisoned her in Lochleven Castle, an island fortress, and she was forced to abdicate in favour of her infant son James. Her half-brother Lord James Stewart, Earl of Moray, became Regent.

Mary escaped prison, and set out west, gathering an army as she went, from Hamilton towards Dumbarton Castle. Her army had 6000-6500 men. But on the morning of the 13^th of May 1568, her troops were cut off by Regent Moray’s forces, of roughly 4000 men. Mary’s cavalry made an unsuccessful charge, and her foot soldiers marched towards Langside Hill up the Lang Loan, now Battlefield Road. The two armies battled where the memorial stands today, and seemed evenly matched until Moray’s reinforcements arrived, forcing Mary’s troops to withdraw. The final battle was said to have been over in less than an hour, with roughly 300 of Mary’s soldiers killed, and only a few deaths on Moray’s side.

Mary, who had watched the battle from Cathcart Hill, fled south after the battle, and spent her last night in Scotland at Dundrennan Abbey. She then went to England where she was held captive in various castles by her cousin Elizabeth I, who was certain that Mary was after the English throne. Mary was accused of several plots against Elizabeth I, and was sentenced to be executed for treason. She was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle on February 8^th, 1587.

Battlefield Street Design

Today the memorial is one of several key locations in the area being considered by Battlefield Street Design, a project led by Sustrans in partnership with Glasgow City Council, to redevelop the area. This project aims to:

• Redesign public spaces so that they feel safer, more attractive and sociable places to spend time in
• Make it easier for people of all ages and abilities to travel on foot and by bike to local facilities in the area.
• Empower residents to influence and become involved in local decision making.
• Showcase best practice engagement and design to inspire other groups and organisations.

Learn more about the exciting Battlefield Street Design project. Here at SGHET, we are collaborating with Battlefield Street Design to bring you short histories of the local area. Stay tuned for more…

By Saskia McCracken

Sources

Aileen Smart. Villages of Glasgow: South of the Clyde. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers, 1996; 2002)

1936. Stewart Black. Scottish Battles. Glasgow: Brown, Son & Ferguson Ltd.,1936. pp 125-130.

Historic Environment Scotland

Glasgow Live

The Glasgow Story

Battlefield Monument, Langside

Canmore

Discover Glasgow

Scot Cities

Battlefield Street Design

Other images: Mitchell Library, G 941.05 SCO; Mirrorpix; and Getty.

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Stan Laurel, of famous comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston in the North of England, and moved with his family to 17 Craigmillar Road in Langside, South Glasgow when he was 15 years old. His father, Arthur Jefferson was an actor, playwright, and theatre manager, and his mother, Margaret ‘Madge’ Metcalfe was a draper’s saleswoman, who became an actress after the two got married (13). Growing up, Stan spent his pocket money on toy theatres and marionettes and loved dressing up, putting on make-up, and performing for his friends and neighbours (67).

He attended Queen’s Park School, often skipping class to hide in an old shed with an entertainment troupe run by his friend Willie Walker (68). After dropping out of school, he began working at the Metropole Theatre (in the city centre, now demolished), which his father managed. Stan first took to the stage at the Britannia Music Hall in Trongate (now the Panopticon, which still holds shows), without his father’s knowledge, and wearing his father’s clothes and ‘topper’ hat. One night, he was shocked to see his father in the audience. Arthur Jefferson described the scene in his unpublished biography:

Giving a subdued yell of horrified astonishment, [Stan] dropped my topper which thereupon rolled toward the footlights. Stan pursued it, tried to grab it and in doing so kicked it accidentally into the orchestra where one of the musicians made a rush to retrieve it and stepped on it, squashing it thoroughly! Then Stan made a dash for the exit but his luck was out. As he ran off, he came in contact with a steel hook fixed in the wings for a trapeze act and the hook ripped off half the skirt of my beautiful frock coat. Exit…loud applause! … smashing the topper and the tearing of the coat was extremely funny! (69-70)

When father and son met afterwards they stood in silence for a while. Then Arthur said, ‘Not bad son’ and got him a whisky and soda. Stan burst into tears. His father wrote:

Imagine his astonishment and joy when I received him with open arms and congratulations and promises to help him achieve his ambition! (70)

He certainly did achieve his ambition. Stan joined the Karno Company of comedians in his teens and was soon understudy to Charlie Chaplin (72-3). He went with the Company to New York, travelling in high style aboard a cattle-boat (having missed the liner they had booked). After another stint in the UK, Stan moved to the US to try his hand at vaudeville (74). He changed his surname to Laurel, figuring fewer letters could be written in larger print on the billboards (75). He had his first film break in Nuts in May in 1917, and went on to become a director, writing and directing several films starring Oliver Hardy, before they ever performed together.

One day, Stan was asked to stand in for Hardy (who had scalded his arm) in front of the camera. Something clicked. Soon the two were performing together as Laurel and Hardy, with Stan writing and directing many of their films, as well as starring in them. They took their double act to the Glasgow Empire, and their films made them two of the most internationally famous comic actors of their time (159). Stan and Ollie made over 100 films together from the 1920s to the 1950s (7), including well-known hits such as The Flying Deuces, The Music Box (which received an Academy Award), and Big Business. Meanwhile, Stan had numerous wives (one of whom he married twice) and two children. He received an Academy Honorary Award in 1961, and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1964, and died the following year in California.

Today Langside, the area he grew up in, is being considered by Battlefield Street Design, a project led by Sustrans in partnership with Glasgow City Council, to redevelop the area. This project aims to:

• Redesign public spaces so that they feel safer, more attractive and sociable places to spend time in
• Make it easier for people of all ages and abilities to travel on foot and by bike to local facilities in the area.
• Empower residents to influence and become involved in local decision making.
• Showcase best practice engagement and design to inspire other groups and organisations.

You can learn more about this exciting project here: https://battlefield.commonplace.is/. Here at SGHET, we are collaborating with Battlefield Street Design to bring you short histories of the local area. Stay tuned for more…

By Saskia McCracken

Sources:

Danny Lawrence. The Making of Stan Laurel: Echoes of a British Boyhood. London: McFarland & Company Publishers, 2011.

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