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Introduction
'"Glasgow is a magnificent city," said McAlpin. 'Why do we hardly ever notice that?"
"Because nobody imagines living here” said Thaw. “Think of Florence, Paris, London, New York. Nobody visiting them for the first time is a stranger because he's already visited them in paintings, novels, history books and films. But if a city hasn't been used by an artist, not even the inhabitants live there imaginatively."'
Lanark: A Life in Four Books (1981) - Alasdair Gray
The city of Glasgow is central to Alsadair Gray’s artistic and literary output. Gray's seminal novel Lanark, set in a Glasgow which shifts between a largely naturalistic representation of the city in the 1950s and a dystopian parallel, is often credited with changing the literary landscape in Scotland. The novel's critical success saw greater publication opportunities for Scottish writers and sparked a movement that has come to be known as the Second Scottish Literary Renaissance. The oft-quoted epigraph at the top of the page keenly expresses what Lanark gave to Glasgow: a way of viewing the city imaginatively.
Poor Things (1992) is also set in Glasgow (aside from a lengthy cross-continental interlude). The late-Victorian imagining of the city offers its readers a vivid sense of place. It depicts real locales, many of which still stand today and many of which you’ll discover as you take The Poor Things Tour of Glasgow. But right now, it's time to get imaginative ourselves. Imagine for a moment that you are sitting outside a coffee shop on Glasgow's Great Western Road. You've finally got a wee bit of time to yourself to enjoy a cuppa with a good book in hand. (No points for guessing which book). You turn a page and reach Chapter 21 of Poor Things to hear Archibald McCandless describe his wedding preparations:
You look up from the page. You look across the street. You see Landsdown Crescent. There's a large church in front of you. Its spire must be over, what, 200 feet? You reckon it's in the Gothic revival style...which means it would have been built in roughly the same period as Poor Things is set. It can't be? It is. It's Lansdowne United Presbyterian Church - the church McCandless has only just described in the pages open before you. Believe it or not, this was the exact the scenario that Gray enthusiast Rachel Slocombe found herself in on a bright February morning. Inspired by the coincidence, Rachel took note of the various pages in Poor Things which mention real Glasgow locales. She then began charting a route around them beginning at what was Lansdowne United Presbyterian Church, built 1862-1863, now Webster's Theatre. The Alasdair Gray Archive's Poor Things Tour of Glasgow is based on Rachel's research (and well-worn heels).
But before you lace up your own bootstraps, it's worth reiterating the magnitude of the city's influence on Gray and his influence on it. Now, to say that Alasdair Gray put Glasgow on the map is to say nothing new. So in keeping with Gray's affection for newness and the new creations he inspired in others, the Alasdair Gray Archive's Poor Things Tour of Glasgow has put Gray's Glasgow on a new kind of map. A literal one. And we'd very much like you to join us.
I arranged a simple Presbyterian wedding, for I thought this was a harmless and traditional way to solemnize our vows. The park church was the nearest but I did not want the neighbours' children scrambling at the door, so chose Landsdowne United Presbyterian, less than ten minutes walk away beside Great Western Road (p200).
Tour Instructions
The Poor Things Tour of Glasgow is split into three sections: The West End Tour, The East End Tour, The City Centre Tour. Each of the three routes can be walked individually or you can link them up into one walking tour. If you take the full route using the public transport advised, it should take around 2 to 2.5 hours depending on how long you linger at each location.
When you scroll down this page a little further you’ll find three Google maps showing the recommended tour route. The locations are marked with purple pin points with a blue line showing a suggested travel route between them. You will also notice some red pinpoints on the map. These are locations of additional interest for Alasdair Gray enthusiasts. You may want to loop some of these into your own route or visit them on another occasion.
Below each of the three maps, you’ll find some advice on the route mapped out for you. You will also find brief details about the locations, a quotation from Poor Things and a list of page numbers that correspond to the locations as they appear in the novel. We recommend you take a copy of the book with you. The edition we used is: Alasdair Gray, Poor Things (London: Bloomsbury, 2002).
We would absolutely love for you to share your tour stories, photos and musings with us on social media using #PoorThings.
Get involved!
West End Tour
Two Hills (1951), courtesy AGA
Walking Notes:
Begin at Lansdowne United Presbyterian Church (now Websters Theatre), where Archibald McCandless and Bella Baxter were set to be married (p200). There are a few routes you could take to the next location, but we recommend following the one marked on the map: walk down Woodlands Road, turn up Lyndoch street and make your way to Park Circus. Search for No 18 Park Circus, the home of Godwin Baxter. Its here where much of the novel’s action takes place. The contested coach house, whose presence is debated by the fictional Gray and Michael Donnelly in the novel’s end notes (p208), is said to be located on Park Terrace Lane. Walk down the granite steps (Park Gardens Staircase) mentioned on p286 of Poor Things. Enter Kelvingrove Park (originally West End Park) through the entrance to your right. In the park you’ll find The Stuart Memorial Fountain, which is referred to as The Loch Katrine Memorial Fountain in Poor Things. Feel free to make your way through the park’s wee winding lanes (where Bella and McCandless first kiss p48 and also wander through on the morning of their wedding morning p200). Once you’ve finished your own wander follow the map crossing the River Kelvin and head up to Glasgow University, where McCandless enrols as a medical student in 1879. From there, make your way to Hillhead Subway station where you'll see Gray's Hillhead mural in the main foyer. To link the West End Tour up with the East End tour take the Outer Circle line to St. Enoch.
Note: it is possible to link the West End Tour to the City Centre Tour. This involves following the City Centre and East End Tour backwards and walking for around 20 minutes from The University of Glasgow (G12 8QQ) to Charing Cross (G3 6UJ). If you take this route, you’ll miss out on the Alasdair Gray mural at Hillhead subway.
Lansdowne United Presbyterian Church
Lansdowne United Presbyterian Church was designed by John Honeyman and built in 1862-1863. The stonework was carved by John Mossman. The spire rises to 218 feet (66.5 metres). It is described by architectural historian Gordon Urquhart as an 'Icon of Victorian Glasgow' in his book about the building A Notable Ornament. In 1913 Alf Webster was commissioned to design the church's stained glass windows. He died of wounds received at Ypres in 1915. The theatre that now occupies the building is named after him.
Poor Things, p200
'I arranged a simple Presbyterian wedding, for I thought this was a harmless and traditional way to solemnize our vows. The park church was the nearest but I did not want the neighbours' children scrambling at the door, so chose Landsdowne United Presbyterian, less than ten minutes walk away beside Great Western Road.'
See also: 201; 288; 296
18 Park Circus
The Victorian sandstone terraces of Park Circus were designed by Glasgow architect Charles Wilson and constructed between 1855 and 1863. No.18 Park Circus is at the heart of Poor Things. The home of Dr. Godwin Baxter is the site, (or so McCandless claims) of the surgeon’s Frankenstein-esque experiment to brings Bella to life from the deceased body of Victoria McCandless (nee Hattersley) and her unborn child. Within the house in Gray’s novel lives a radical community not unlike the home of Godwin’s namesake: the philosophical anarchist William Godwin, husband of feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft and father to their child Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein (1818).
Poor Things, p289
'Anyone who cares to try the experiment [...] can easily walk from 18 Park Circus to Lansdowne Church in less than ten minutes by way of the park. The building (designed by John Honeyman) is of cream sandstone in the French Gothic style, with the most slender spire (in proportion to its height) in Europe. The sight of it so impressed John Ruskin that he burst into tears. The interior retains an unusual arrangement of boxed pews, and has two important stained glass windows by Alfred Webster relating biblical scenes to contemporary Glasgow. Both church and congregation date from 1863.'
See also: I; XV; 22; 26; 28; 57; 64; 65; 71; 72; 97; 190; 208; 212; 241; 261; 271; 285; 294
The Coach House (at Park Terrace)
The debate between the fictional Michael Donnelly and Alasdair Gray about the historical (in)accuracy of the coach house underlines Poor Things preoccupation with conflicting narratives and ambiguous truth telling.
Poor Things, p280
'Michael Donnelly, indefatigable in his efforts to prove this history a work of fiction, points out that the garden here described does not mention a coach-house on the far side of it. He has visited Baxter’s old home (18 Park Circus) and asserts that the space between back entrance and coach-house is too small and sunken to have ever been more than a drying-yard. This, of course, only proves that the coach-house was built at a later date.'
See also: 285
Park Gardens Steps
Poor Things, p286
'Most visitors to Odessa know the great flight of stairs down the cliff to the harbour front. The granite stairway in Glasgow’s West End Park (erected in 1854 at a cost of £10,000) is equally substantial and handsome, but unfortunately in a corner where it is seldom seen and not much used by the public. Had it been erected nearer the central slope from Park Terrace it would have confronted Glasgow University across the narrow valley, and appeared to greater advantage'.
See also: 115
West End Park (Kelvingrove)
Kelvingrove Park was originally West End Park. It was chiefly designed by architect Charles Wilson and surveyor Thomas Kyle. Another prominent designer was Sir Joseph Paxton, head gardener at Chatsworth house. The park was completed in 1852.
Poor Things, p284
'The steeply raked terraces of Glasgow’s West End Park were designed in the early 1850s by Joseph Paxton, who also designed Queen’s Park and the Botanic Gardens. The acute angle of the slope made it useful to Percy Pilcher when testing one of the gliders which eventually led to his death in 1899, but established the main structure of the aeroplane as it has developed to this day, and even gave the ‘aeroplane’ its name. The Pilcher connection may have led H. G. Wells to use the West End Park in his novel The War in the Air, published a month before the 1914–18 war. Wells describes Britain’s first successful airman flying from London to Glasgow and back without stopping. As he circles above the park on a level with the highest terrace he shouts to the astonished crowds there, “Me muver was Scotch!” and is wildly applauded'.
See also: 53; 267
Loch Katherine Memorial Fountain
As the quote below states: 'The proper name’ for the Loch Katrine fountain is The Stewart Memorial Fountain. Gray scholars and enthusiasts alike have argued that the fountain can be read as an emblem for Glasgow City Council's disregard of its civic duty in the years after Glasgow’s term as The European City of Culture in 1990. After reading the quotation do you agree?
Poor Things, p283
'The proper name is The Stewart Memorial Fountain, since it was erected to commemorate the work of Mr. Stewart of Murdostoun, Lord Provost of Glasgow in 1854. Against strong opposition from the private water companies he got an Act of Parliament passed which enabled Glasgow Corporation to turn Loch Katrine, thirty-three miles away in the depths of the Trossach Mountains, into the city's main public water supply [...] Around 1970 the authorities turned the water off and made the stonework a children's climbing frame. The sculptures got broken. In 1989, as Glasgow prepared to become the European Cultural Capital, it was fully repaired and set flowing again. In July 1992 it is waterless once more. A high timber wall surrounds it'
See also: 44; 51; 295
The River Kelvin
The River Kelvin is a tributary of the River Clyde almost 22 miles long. The 'upstream paper mill' referenced in the quote below it likely the The Kelvindale Paper Mill. It was founded in the 18th century as the Balgray Snuff & Paper Mill and was purchased by Edward Collins in the 1840s. The mill stood by an expansive V-shaped weir on the river Kelvin roughly 1.5 miles upstream of West End Park.
Poor Things, p44
'The air seemed cleaner indoors, but one evening a need of exercise took me walking beside a dull stretch of the Kelvin. At one point it fell over a weir which churned effluent from the upstream paper mill into heaps of filthy green froth, each the size and shape of a lady’s bonnet and divided from its neighbour by a crevice floored with opaque scum. This substance (which looked and stank like the contents of a chemical retort) flowed through the West End Park completely hiding the river under it. I imagined the mixture when it entered the oil-fouled Clyde between Partick and Govan, and wondered if men were the only land beasts who excreted into water.'
The University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow was founded in 1451 by Pope Nicholas V. The University appointed its first Professor of Medicine in 1637 (Robert Mayne). However, the modern medical school only came into being in 1751 when William Cullen was was appointed Professor of Medicine.
Poor Things, p XIV
29 AUGUST, 1879: Archibald McCandless enrols as a medical student in Glasgow University, where Godwin Baxter (son of the famous surgeon and himself a practising surgeon) is an assistant in the anatomy department.
See also: X; XII; 9; 40; 97; 212; 253; 302
Other Locations of Note:
Hillhead Underground
Gray's 2m x 12m mural was created for Strathclyde Partnership for Transport at Hillhead station in 2012. It depicts a central cityscape featuring Kelvingrove, The Botanic Gardens and Byres Road in Glasgow’s West End (where Gray lived from 1969 till his death in 2019). The side panels depit 'all kinds of folk' in allegorical form.
The Ubiquitous Chip Mural (1979-82)
Family and friends became regular subjects with Gray often sketching in homes, cafes, pubs and restaurants. In 1979, the original owner, Ronnie Clydesdale, commissioned Gray to produce a mural in the main restaurant and back staircase in exchange for food and drink. The painting features many of The Chip’s regulars at the time.
Òran Mór Mural (2004)
Alasdair Gray’s ceiling mural in the Auditorium of Òran Mór theatre, bar and restaurant was commissioned by Gray’s long term patron and supporter Colin Beattie. The celestial ceiling mural on the main auditorium roof features astrological depictions and the zodiac signs based on those which appeared in Ladybird books. Gray used the mezzanine level to pose and reply to questions inspired by Gauguin: ‘Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?’ . Gray's recurrent motto ‘Work as if you are living in the early days of a better nation,’ adapted from poet Dennis Lee’s Civil Elegies, spells out in gold lettering across its wooden beams.
Kelvingrove Art Gallery
In the early 1950's Gray attended Miss Jean Irwin's Saturday art classes at Kelvingrove Art Gallery. The lessons had a profund impact on his working life. See A Life in Pictures (2010) pp. 17-22.
East End Tour
Sketch of view near Glasgow Cathedral (c.1961) in Found Ledger, courtesy AGA
Walking Notes:
From the Argyll Street exit of St Enoch’s subway station turn left and follow the route on the map towards Glasgow Green. The first stop on the route is St Andrew’s Suspension Bridge. This part of the journey will take you around 20 minutes. Cross the Suspension Bridge. It’s here where Victoria McCandless supposedly took her own life and that of her unborn child by jumping into the river Clyde below (p32). It is a “fact” Victoria vehemently denies in her Letter to Posterity pp.251-276). Close by the bridge, you’ll see the Glasgow Humane society whose real life local legend Georgie Geddes supposedly recovered Victoria’s drowned corpse (p32). The society’s current house was built in 1937. Follow the map to make your way to the People’s Palace. Nip inside to see Gray’s City Recorder series (1978-79) a commission supported by Michael Donnelly and Elspeth King who both feature as minor characters in Poor Things. The Templeton Carpet Factory (now West Brewery) is close by. Exit Glasgow Green and enter the Necropolis at the gate next to Tennents Brewery. The Baxter mausoleum is above you. It's marked on the map at the gate as the Monteath mausoleum. When you exit the Necropolis go over the bridge to the cathedral. The Royal Infirmary is to the left. If you want to link the East End Tour to the City Centre Tour your next stop is the Glasgow Stock Exchange now the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) at 111 Queen St, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow G1 3AH.
St Andrews Suspension Bridge
Poor Things, p32
“I was called to examine the body you know as Bella soon after our quarrel a year ago. Geddes saw a young woman climb onto the parapet of the suspension bridge near his home. She did not jump feet first like most suicides. She dived clean under like a swimmer but expelling the air from her lungs, not drawing it in, for she did not return to the surface alive. On recovering the body Geddes found she had tied the strap of a reticule filled with stones to her wrist. An unusually deliberate suicide then, and committed by someone who wished to be forgotten. The pockets of her discreetly fashionable garments were empty, with neat holes cut in the linings and lingerie where women of the wealthier class have their names or initials stitched. Rigor had not set in, the body had hardly cooled before I arrived. I found she was pregnant, with pressure grooves round the finger where wedding and engagement rings had been removed"
See also: 212; 293
The Glasgow Humane Society
Glasgow Humane Society was founded in 1790 and is the oldest continuing lifeboat service in the world. George "Geordie" Geddes (c 1826-1889) was the keeper of the Glasgow Morgue and the officer of the Humane Society. According to The Bailie, Geddes rescued thirty-five people from the River Clyde between 1845 and 1860. He won the Glasgow Humane Society's Gold Medal and a bronze medal from the Royal Humane Society of London.
Poor Things, p32
“Geordie Geddes works for Glasgow Humane Society, who give him a rent-free house on Glasgow Green.8 His job is to fish human bodies out of the Clyde and save their lives, if possible. When not possible he puts them in a small morgue attached to his dwelling, where a police surgeon performs autopsies. If this official is not available they send for me. Most of the bodies are suicides, of course, and if no one claims them they are transferred to dissecting-rooms and laboratories".
See also: 280; 317
People’s Palace
The People’s Palace is set in historic Glasgow Green and was opened in 1898. The East End of Glasgow was one of the most overcrowded parts of the city during this period and Palace was intended to provide a cultural centre, especially for those with little access to green space. Alasdair Gray first met the then Palace’s then curator Elspeth King and her assistant Michael Donnelly in 1977 when King commissioned the artist to visually document the city. During his year tenure as "artist recorder" Gray created approximately 33 pieces for the Palace, portraying typical or well-known Glaswegians engaged in their daily routines, as well as capturing buildings and street scenes. You can see them today alongside the museum’s existing collections.
Poor Things, Introduction (first page)
'Life in Glasgow was very exciting during the nineteen seventies. The old industries which had made the place were being closed and moved south, while the elected governors (for reasons any political economist can explain) were buying multistorey housing blocks and a continually expanding motorway system. In the local history museum on Glasgow Green the curator Elspeth King, her helper Michael Donnelly, worked overtime to acquire and preserve evidence of local culture that was being hustled into the past. Since the First World War the City Council had given the local history museum (called the People’s Palace) no funds to buy anything new, so Elspeth and Michael’s acquisitions were almost all salvaged from buildings scheduled for demolition. A store was rented in Templeton’s carpet factory (which was soon closing down) and to this place Michael Donnelly brought troves of stained-glass windows, ceramic tiles, theatre posters, banners of disbanded trade unions and all sorts of historical documents. Elspeth King sometimes gave Michael manual help with this work, as the rest of her staff were attendants sent by the head of the city art gallery in Kelvingrove and not paid to retrieve objects from dirty, unsafe buildings. Neither, of course, were Elspeth and Michael, so the new and very successful exhibitions they put on cost the City Council little or nothing.'
See also: XI, XII
Glasgow Necropolis (Baxter Mausoleum)
Adjacent to Glasgow Cathedral (which also features heavily in Gray’s 1981 novel Lanark), you'll find the Glasgow Necropolis - a Victorian garden cemetery. It was established in 1832 and modelled on Père-Lachaise in Paris. It is here Gray claims the Baxter Mausoleum is located. The tomb Gray used for this cunning rouse is the Monteath mausoleum, an impressive rotuna build in 1864. It is conveniently unmarked with its inhabitants' names.
Poor Things, p318
'The Necropolis of Glasgow [is] where the three principal characters of this book are interred in the Baxter Mausoleum'.
See also: 244
The Royal Infirmary
Glasgow Royal Infirmary was designed by Robert and James Adam and opened in 1794. Today it is a teaching hospital and the main inpatient hospital for the north and east of Greater Glasgow. It is the workplace of Dr. Archibald McCandless in Poor Things.
Poor Things, pXV
10 JANUARY, 1884: By special licence a civil marriage contract is signed between Archibald McCandless, house doctor in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and Bella Baxter, spinster, of the Barony Parish'
See also: 43; 55; 70; 241; 269
Templeton Carpet Factory
Templeton Carpet Factory (now West Brewery) was opened in 1892. Gray captured it in a watercolour/drawing titled London Road Between Templeton's Carpet Factory and Monaco Bar. It was produced in 1977 for the City Recorder Series.
Poor Things, Introduction (first page). See People's Palace quotation above.
City Centre Tour
Cowcaddens Streetscape in the Fifties (1964), courtesy AGA
Walking Notes:
Make your way from the Royal Infirmary (G4 0SF) to the Gallery of Modern Art at Royal Exchange Square (G1 3AH). We recommend you then take a walk up to the Theatre Royal before looping in The Arts Club on Bath Street, Sauchiehall Street and Charing Cross. There are quite a few additional locations of note in the City Centre Tour, so have a look at them before you set off and re-route your map as you see fit. We’d love to hear all about your journey so don’t forget to share your experience with us @AGrayArchive (Twitter) or @thealasdairgrayarchive (Instagram) using #PoorThings.
Glasgow Stock Exchange
The Glasgow Stock Exchange is a former financial institution in the city centre of Glasgow. It is now home to the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA).
Poor Things, p286
The Royal Exchange, in Queen Street, was erected and opened on 3rd September 1829. It was built by subscription at an expense of £60,000, and was not only a lasting monument of the wealth of the Glasgow merchants, but the noblest institution of the kind in Britain for many decades afterward. This splendid structure is built in the Grecian style of architecture from designs by David Hamilton. The building is entered by a majestic portico, surmounted by a beautiful lantern tower. The great roof is 130 feet in length and 60 in breadth; the roof, supported by Corinthian pillars, is 30 feet in height. The interior is now occupied by Stirling’s Public Lending Library, and as magnificent as ever.'
See also: 110
Glasgow Theatre Royal
The Theatre Royal is the oldest theatre in Glasgow. It opened in 1867 at 282 Hope Street. In the extract below Duncan Wedderburn compares himself to Goethe's Dr Faust whose bargain with the devil lead to his demise. The production to which Wedderburn refers toured various cities, including Glasgow, in 1886.
Poor Things, p77
'Did you see the great Henry Irving’s production of Goethe’s Faust at the Glasgow Theatre Royal? I did. I was deeply moved. I recognized myself in that tormented hero, that respectable member of the professional middle class who enlists the King of Hell to help him seduce a woman of the servant class. Yes, Goethe and Irving knew that Modern Man — that Duncan Wedderburn — is essentially double: a noble soul fully instructed in what is wise and lawful, yet also a fiend who loves beauty only to drag it down and degrade it. That is how I saw myself until a week ago.'
See also: 79; on p77 we learn that Wedderburn lives at 41 Aytoun Street, Pollockshields, a residential address in the South Side of Glasgow.
The Glasgow Art Club
The Glasgow Art Club is a private members club which has occupied its A-listed Bath Street premises since 1893. It was founded in 1867 by artist William Dennistoun. Artist members include James Guthrie and E. A. Walton, along with several other Glasgow Boys, although the pioneers of this group had initially been refused membership.
Poor Things, p240
'When my friends at the Glasgow Arts Club twit me with my wife's greater fame I have a ready reply: "One famous McCandless is enough for one family".
Sauchiehall Street
At its height, from 1880 to the 1970s, Sauchiehall Street was one of the most famous streets in Glasgow known for high-end quality stores, galleries and entertainment venues. Although typically associated with the city centre, Sauchiehall Street stretches across 1.5 miles.
Poor Things, p27
One cold bright Saturday when winter was becoming spring I walked up Sauchiehall Street and heard what at first seemed an iron-shod carriage wheel scraping a kerbstone. A moment later I recognised a familiar voice'.
Other Locations of Note:
Mitchell Library
The Mitchell Library is one of Europe's largest public libraries. It was established in 1877, with builidng work beginning on its current North Street premises in 1907. If you look across from Charing Cross Mansions you should be able to see its distinctive copper dome, which is surmounted by Thomas Clapperton's bronze statue entitled Literature. The statue is often referred to as Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom. In Gray's autobiography, A Life in Pictures (2010), the writer recalls the profound effect that access to this free, public library had on his literary development (LIP, p14).
Glasgow School of Art
Gray studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1952 to 1957. The Art School features heavily in his semi-autobiographical novel Lanark (1981).
Cowcaddens
The Cowcaddens area is where Gray situates Victoria McCandless the Godwin Baxter Natal Clinic. In his fictional role as Poor Things' editor, he claims the clinic opened in 1890 (pp. 302-3). The area is also featured in one of Gray's most notable works, Cowcaddens Streetscape in the Fifties (1964). The 121.5 x 224 cm oil on hardboard demonstrates Gray's characteristic use of multiple vanishing points.
The Alasdair Gray Archive at The Whisky Bond
The Alasdair Gray Archive is a free, public resource located at The Whisky Bond in Glasgow. It was established in March 2020 after Gray’s death in late 2019. The Archive has a re-staging of Gray’s working studio complete with all the objects and items that surrounded him, many of which feature in his work. All are held for research & learning thanks to the generous support of his son, Andrew. The Archive is open for visits booked in advance via email sorcha[at]thealasdairgrayarchive.org
Hamiltonhill Claypits Local Nature Reserve and Garscube Links
The view at the top of the Hamiltonhill Claypits influenced what is perhaps the famous passage from Lanark on p243 which begins ‘Glasgow is a magnificent city’. To discover more about Gray’s manipulation of the Glasgow landscape into fiction tune into Alasdair Gray Archive Podcast, Magnificent Vistas. If you walk a little further down the hill (or take a wee wheech down the slide!) you’ll come to a series of four public artworks carved in stone and situated at Garscube Links. They were hand drawn by Gray in 2018 and commissioned by Scottish Canals. The text was inspired by nature and biodiversity. The work offers up ideas of hope, freedom and inspiration for others in Gray's name.
Charing Cross
Charing Cross is a major intersection in Glasgow city centre. Much of its architecture was destroyed when the M8 motorway was built through it in the late 1960s, most notably the Grand Hotel. The Charing Cross Mansions, one of the city's oldest red sandstone tenements built in 1891, is still standing today. Charing Cross is part of the 'Square Mile of Murder', a term coined by journalist Jack House in 1961, whose book of the same name explored a series of sensational murders which scandalised Victorian society.
Poor Things, p64
'Was [Bella] even now walking briskly to Charing Cross where she would take a cab to Wedderburn's rooms?'
