28-06-2025
Dramatic pictures reveal how much Glasgow area has changed
One of my favourites is an image of the old railway bridge at 1551 Great Western Road in Anniesland (pictured).
It was taken in August 1936 and shows workmen labouring in an open trench parallel to the main road.
Part of its appeal is that, although elements of it have changed, the bridge itself - the brick of the retaining wall, so much of the view - is still recognisable in the same place today.
The railway bridge partially obscures the tenements of Herschell Street which rise behind it. It also frames part of Great Western Road and showcases a developing Anniesland.
This area was once a farm that was part of the Jordanhill estate and was based in both the counties of Lanark and Renfrew before it joined Glasgow.
Its rural location, far removed from the city, gave rise to its local industries in the nineteenth century. These included farming, small-scale mining, brickmaking and quarrying.
Great Western Road had reached Anniesland Toll (now Cross) by 1850 and the arrival of the North British Railway in 1886 and its new station in the area encouraged residential building on a larger scale.
Buildings like Anniesland Mansions, on the outskirts of Anniesland Cross, particularly attracted the middle classes to move there. The Mansions were built between 1907 and 1913 and incorporated both Edwardian-era tenements and Anniesland Hall.
The entire imposing sweep of tenements on this corner site would have been one of the Cross's most recognisable landmarks before its redevelopment in the twentieth century.
Pulling back from the Cross and heading back towards the city centre, we travel forward in time to the late 1930s as we approach the impressive Art Deco façade of the former Ascot Cinema on Great Western Road.
Ascot Cinema, February 1940 (Image: Glasgow City Archives)
Designed by Charles McNair, this cinema eventually became a bingo hall in 1975. Finally, we return to the Cross and the building which now dominates its skyline: Anniesland Court.
Rising above the Cross, it is a tower block built in the brutalist style. Built between 1966 and 1968, it's an example of Glasgow Corporation housing and is now a listed building.
Anniesland Court (Image: Glasgow City Archives)
Anniesland Cross itself is also worthy of note. While not as large as other crosses in Glasgow, it sprawls out over a considerable area. It's where several major roads meet including Great Western Road, Anniesland Road, Crow Road and Bearsden Road.
This photograph of the Cross from around 1935 shows that this meeting of the roads has always been a complex network to navigate.
Anniesland Cross, c1935 with public conveniences at far right (Image: Glasgow City Archives)
Stranded in an island position in the midst of the Cross are Anniesland's former public loos which were built in the early 1930s.
Glasgow Corporation officials struggled to find a suitable location for them before choosing this site. Ironically, they became very difficult for pedestrians to access after the Cross was redeveloped.
While now closed as a public convenience, there have been attempts since then to reopen the building as a restaurant.
Many of the commercial premises which helped to define Anniesland have now disappeared. For example, Castlebank Laundry, based in Anniesland Road, became a local landmark. Its distinctive yellow-painted vans were a common sight around the city, collecting laundry from clients and delivering it to the Anniesland premises for cleaning.
Castlebank Laundry exterior (Image: Glasgow City Archives)
Not a stone's throw away was Birrell's Factory producing the sweets which stocked the well-known confectioner's shops and stands in cinemas throughout Glasgow.
Barr and Stroud, the optical instrument engineers whose business records are held by Glasgow University's Archives and Special Collections, had premises where the Anniesland Morrison's now stands.
And the Top Hat Cafe on Great Western Road was, according to my aunt who used to work there, the place for teenagers in Anniesland to hang out during the 1950s and 60s.
And why is the area called Anniesland? Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer.
A popular theory suggests it may have been named after someone in the area called Annie. Another suggestion is that as parcels of land there were rented out annually, the area was called annual-land giving rise to Anniesland.
What are your memories of Anniesland? Email or write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow G32 8FG.
