Britain From Above, Great aerial photos of Glasgow Options

[GG]

Thanks to Jupiter for suggesting this site to me; it's a fantastic resource:

http://http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/

Britain from Above presents the unique Aerofilms collection of aerial photographs from 1919-1953. Register to zoom into these amazing pictures, identify unlocated images, and share memories.

If you see any particularly interesting photos of Glasgow. please post the link her and say why it is an interesting photo to you.

GG.

[GG]

E.g. here's a great one from 1928, which, some might argue, shows the extent to which town 'planners' have destroyed a great cityscape.

Glasgow, general view, showing West Nile Street and Bath Street. Oblique aerial photograph taken facing north.

http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/spw022068

Click the 'Download' link on the page for a bigger photo, as here.

GG.

[Jupiter]

GG I hope our members have a good look at the city pics.Im sure they will find something of interest.
My biggest impression was how industrialised the whole of the city was;how busy the docks and shipyards were in comparison to what we have now.
Has the citys fortunes improved in this respect or was it better as a grimy, pollution filled workplace?

[wee davy]

Urr we no gettin' a bit 'ABOVE' wursels, here? lol

[Doug1]

Great pics. i picked up on one in particular Princess docks and this brought back strong boyhood memories of govan which of course was totally immersed in shipbuilding culture. But strangely, what i had forgotten was the docks. This picture poignantly took me back to walking through the docks with my uncle john who was a dock superintendent and seeing the lines of ships from all over the world loading and unloading their cargos and watching the dock railway engines doing their stuff. I have such vivid memories of how many cranes there were all swinging about in different directions and now all gone. As a treat my uncle would take me up to the top of the big huge crane (which I believe has been preserved) and we would walk along to the end of the jib and look down on the docks and all the ships below. He also showed me the original tunnel under the river. I have a feeling my uncle and my dad and me walked through this tunnel, which had a lift at each end to lift horse drawn carts up and down.

I havent been back for a long time but the memories are still there

_______________

[d.c.]

As a treat my uncle would take me up to the top of the big huge crane (which I believe has been preserved) and we would walk along to the end of the jib and look down on the docks and all the ships below. He also showed me the original tunnel under the river. I have a feeling my uncle and my dad and me walked through this tunnel, which had a lift at each end to lift horse drawn carts up and down.

Hi Doug1,

If you search Google Images for 'Finnieston Crane', 'North Rotunda' and 'South Rotunda' you will find lots of photos, past and present. There may be some here on this site too and on Virtual Mitchell.

The South Rotunda is currently lying empty and for sale, it hasn't been used since the Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988. The North Rotunda currently houses a restaurant.

No idea what sort of state the tunnel might be in now. It was STV's April Fools joke this year that it would be re-opening as a tourist attraction !!

As for Britain From Above, some great old pics of Glasgow there and hopefully lots more still to be added.

[Doug1]

Hi d.c.

Many thanks for the response. i couldnt recall the name of the big crane but Finnieston yes thats it, the wee bells in my head have started ringing. The name rotunda means nothing to me i just remember a big round building which was derelict and recall the lifting equipment inside it. To get to the tunnel itself we went down a lot of dark dank stairs. i would imagine it would be all filled in now. I will google it up and see what it says

Once again many thanks

doug
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[d.c.]

Some info and pics for you here Doug:

http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/rotundas/
http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/virtualmitc...amp;t=4&x=1

[Doug1]

Once again d.c. many many thanks.

From reading the main article it looks as if my memories are fairly accurate. i was born in 42 and i think i would have been around the 12 to 14 age when i remember going down the tunnel. at that time the vehicle tunnels were filled in so it must have been the pedestrian one we used. The comments by the contributors were most interesting in fact one of them, the electrician, lived in arklet road which was back to back to where i lived as a boy

The sad thing about it all is that this tunnel and lift arrangement must surely have been one of the first in the world and one can just imagine right now what a great tourist draw it would be if the derelict rotunda had been renovated back to the way it was with replica carts etc and visitors being able to visit the tunnel itself.........wishful thinking eh !!

Kind regards.......Doug

_________________

[JAGZ1876]

. As a treat my uncle would take me up to the top of the big huge crane (which I believe has been preserved) and we would walk along to the end of the jib and look down on the docks and all the ships below. He also showed me the original tunnel under the river. I have a feeling my uncle and my dad and me walked through this tunnel, which had a lift at each end to lift horse drawn carts up and down.

Health and safety would be having kittens if anyone tried that with a kid now Doug, as for the old tunnel it closed to vehicular traffic in September 1943, but remained open to pedestrians until April 1980, a workmate and i Had walked through it 1n 1979 (from south to north), the vehicular tunnels were filled in around 1987, but i don't think the pedestrian tunnel was, although i would advice against trying to walk through it if it is still open.

[Dave Grieve]

Health and safety would be having kittens if anyone tried that with a kid now Doug, as for the old tunnel it closed to vehicular traffic in September 1943, but remained open to pedestrians until April 1980, a workmate and i Had walked through it 1n 1979 (from south to north), the vehicular tunnels were filled in around 1987, but i don't think the pedestrian tunnel was, although i would advice against trying to walk through it if it is still open.

I used to use this tunnel in the 60s and can remember at that time a murdered womans body being discovered in the tunnel

[Jupiter]

Dave do you want to tell us something?Where were you at the relevant time?

I remember my father took me through it in the late 50s.It was pretty spooky,and looking over the railings the drop seemed to go for ever.It was really dank with water dripping everywhere.

[Dave Grieve]

Dave do you want to tell us something?Where were you at the relevant time?

I remember my father took me through it in the late 50s.It was pretty spooky,and looking over the railings the drop seemed to go for ever.It was really dank with water dripping everywhere.

All i'm willing to say is that it wasn't a shortcut to Betty's bar

[**Rab**]

Great pics. i picked up on one in particular Princess docks and this brought back strong boyhood memories of govan which of course was totally immersed in shipbuilding culture. But strangely, what i had forgotten was the docks. This picture poignantly took me back to walking through the docks with my uncle john who was a dock superintendent and seeing the lines of ships from all over the world loading and unloading their cargos and watching the dock railway engines doing their stuff. I have such vivid memories of how many cranes there were all swinging about in different directions and now all gone. As a treat my uncle would take me up to the top of the big huge crane (which I believe has been preserved) and we would walk along to the end of the jib and look down on the docks and all the ships below. He also showed me the original tunnel under the river. I have a feeling my uncle and my dad and me walked through this tunnel, which had a lift at each end to lift horse drawn carts up and down.

I havent been back for a long time but the memories are still there

_______________

Doug, your post vividly mirrors my weanhood when my Dad, who was a cranedriver in the Royal Docks, would walk me round the docks in a very similar manner at weekends. He taught me all the shipping line funnel colours and I can still recite them now. The thing that has always stuck in my memories (I'm in my 70s now) was the smells of all the different cargoes.
Great post.
Rab.

[Doug1]

Hi Rab

Great memory to have especially as almost non of it now survives. You mention about the funnels and thats right i think my uncle john told me about recognizing the various shipping lines by the marking on the funnels. I turned 70 in Feb but since starting on this forum a couple of months ago its been an amazing experience bringing back memories of my growing up

Regards..............doug