Townhead
Coordinates: 55°51′53″N 4°14′48″W / 55.864836°N 4.246655°W
| Townhead | |
 Townhead
Townhead shown within Glasgow |
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| OS grid reference | NS595658 |
|---|---|
| Council area | Glasgow City Council |
| Lieutenancy area | Glasgow |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | GLASGOW |
| Postcode district | G1 |
| Dialling code | 0141 |
| Police | Strathclyde |
| Fire | Strathclyde |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | Glasgow Central |
| Scottish Parliament | Glasgow Kelvin |
| Glasgow | |
| List of places: UK • Scotland • Glasgow | |
Townhead is an area of the city of Glasgow, Scotland.
Contents |
[edit] Location
Townhead (often pronounced locally as Toon Heed) has no fixed boundaries. In ancient times it was the undeveloped area north of the cathedral and town. If we use this description then it is bordered to the west by the area of Cowcaddens, to the north by Sighthill and the east by Royston and south by Merchant City. Housing is primarily ex-council stock (Glasgow has no council houses since their transfer to the Glasgow Housing association), although there are a number of student residences for International Christian College, Glasgow Caledonian University and Strathclyde University. Most of the housing units are fairly modern 8 in a block flats, although its most visual features are the four 24-storey high-rise flats named "Two Taylor Place", " Fifteen Grafton Place", " Seven St Mungo's Place" and " Twelve Dobbies Loan Place".
[edit] History
The oldest area of Glasgow, Townhead is where St Kentigern, also known as St Mungo built his church by the banks of the Molendinar Burn.
The oldest part of Townhead, and Glasgow is Glasgow Cathedral, dedicated to St Mungo and dates back to St Mungo's time, though the present building is form the 12th century onwards. Provand's Lordship, Glasgow's oldest remaining house, was constructed from the late 15th century by Bishop Andrew, later given the surname Muirhead as part of St Nicholas Hospital, a lodging for the poor. The hospital, or more accurately a hospitium, provided accommodation for twelve poor men as well their care who contributed through work in the hospital, Bible study and a products from the gardens. The gardens were restored in 1997 and ike the original St Nicolas garden, the herb grown are those known for healing properties and medicinal use.
The Martyrdom of the Covenanters took place in the modern area called Townhead. The northern part of Castle Street was the town limits beyond which was called the "Howgait". Howgait was the scene of public hangings and used until 1781, when they moved to Glasgow Green. The area is nowly mainly taken up by Junction 15 of the M8.
The Martyrs' Church (moved to its current location in 1975) contains the Martyrs stone, which details the executions in 1684 of James Nisbet (a farmer from Louden Parish in Ayrshire), James Lawson and Alex Wood. The stone originally stood in front of Townhead library, along with a large part of the once densely packed Townhead, was demolished to make way for the M8 motorway. Martyrs church also contains the "Martyrs church bell" which has been preserved from the old Martyrs West church building. This church also provides services for the community including youth support work on the streets and in its building through its youth project SIMY. It also holds a badminton club, ladies group and different styles of worship and prayer.
St Mungo's Church, Parson Street,(George Goldie, 1869) is Italiante-Gothic in style. Parson Street is the birth place of architect Charles Rennie MacIntosh, who also aided in the design of Martyr's School, also in Parson Street.
In line with post-war gentrification going on in Glasgow at the time, and in line with recommendations from the infamous Bruce Report, the 1960s saw great change in Townhead. Like Anderston and the Gorbals(which were also completely demolished and rebuilt following Bruce's plan), Townhead was designated a Comprehensive Development Area (CDA), which meant that much of the existing buildings would be cleared and its population rehomed. New multi-storey housing in tower blocks replaced the slum tenements, whilst others were moved to new estates on the outer fringes of the city. As a result, very few of the original tenements in Townhead have survived. The Glasgow Inner Ring Road would also cut a tranche through the area, although the controversial eastern flank (which would have literally wiped out a whole tranche of the present day Merchant City) was abandoned in the late 1970s. The plans also entailed the complete demolition and rebuilding of Glasgow Royal Infirmary, however the scheme was eventually scaled back and the original Victorian hospital was given an indefinite stay of execution.
The southern reaches of the area were cleared to make way for the burgeoning campus of the newly established University of Strathclyde, where can be found the famous and oldest of Townhead's streets - Rottenrow. It was from this high vantage point that St. Mungo could see, south, down to the River Clyde and be forewarned of the approach of any hostile people. Rottenrow was also home to the Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital. This hospital is now demolished and replaced by a garden.
[edit] Transport links
Townhead is also well situated for transport links with Glasgow Queen Street Station and Glasgow Buchanan Bus Station on its doorstep.
