Maryhill
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The Former Burgh Of Maryhill - North West Glasgow
How Maryhill Began
Hew Hill, the Laird (Lord) of Gairbraid, had no male heir and so he left his estate to his daughter, Mary. She married Robert Graham of Dalsholm in 1763, but they had no income from trade or commerce and had to make what they could from the estate. They founded coalmines in the estate but they proved to be wet and unprofitable and their real estate ventures are best known for an acre of ground they did not sell. It is still known as Acre today.
No doubt they would have continued with the struggle, but on the 8th March 1768 Parliament approved the cutting of the Forth and Clyde Canal through their estate, which provided some much-needed money. The canal reached the estate in 1775, but the Canal Company had run out of money and work stopped for eight years. The Government granted funds from forfeited Jacobite estates to start it again and the crossing of the River Kelvin became the focus for massive construction activity. Five locks, the great Kelvin aqueduct and, between two of the locks a dry dock boatyard were built. A village too began to grow up and the Grahams fed more land for its development; Robert Graham attached one condition that was to immortalise the heiress of Gairbraid his beloved wife the last in line of centuries of Hills of Gairbraid after the death of her father Hew Hill. The then village was to be "in all times called the town of MaryHill".
The new canal waterway attracted boat-building, saw-milling and other industries such as ironfounding to its banks within Mary's estate. By 1830 the scattered houses had grown to form a large village with a population of 3000 people. With the building of the Glasgow to Helensburgh railway passing through Maryhill, and of proximity the Loch Katrine pipeline, led to further growth and in 1856 Maryhill became a burgh in its own right (burgh is the old word for town in Scotland). It was later absorbed into the city of Glasgow in 1891.
Maryhill Today
Many areas in the north of Glasgow are below the normal UK standard of living. However, not all areas of North Glasgow are of poor condition. Maryhill is in the north west of the city, and consists of well maintained traditionally "Glaswegian" sandstone tenements with the traditional high ceilings, as well as many large Victorian town houses. There are also large council run housing estates. Although historically a working class area, it is relatively wealthy compared to the rest of the North of the city, containing a large student population as well as a large majority of Glaswegians in full employment who own their own homes, a new type of "Middle Class". It is home to a large variety of people who work in the Scottish media, politicians, doctors and lawyers as well as ordinary working and middle class citizens, whereas in recent times it was seen as one of the less desirable places in Glasgow to live. Maryhill contains affluent areas such as Maryhill Park and North Kelvinside.
The district also contains the Wyndford and Gairbraid estate, a small and economically deprived housing estate with a population of almost 5,000 people. Mostly all tower structures between 5 and 25 stories high. It is also home to many of Glasgow's asylum seeking population. The Maryhill area has the largest Chinese commuinity in Scotland and is one of the most multicultural districts of Glasgow.
History in Maryhill
A part of the Antonine Wall runs through Maryhill, in the Maryhill park area, where there is the site of a Roman fort adjoining the wall in nearby Bearsden.
Maryhill had the first Temperance Society in the U.K after lawlessness filled the streets in the Victorian era.
Maryhill also boasts one of Glasgow's original Carnegie libraries, deftly designed by the Inverness architect James Robert Rhind.
Maryhill Barracks once dominated the area which is now the Wyndford housing estate, it was home to the Scots Greys and the Highland Light Infantry, and famously held Hitler's second-in-command Rudolf Hess during World War Two after his supposed "Peace" flight to the UK. The Barracks were decommissioned in the early 1960's. However the Territorial Army units, the 52nd Lowland Regiment and 32 (Scottish) Signal Regiment continue to be based in the area, with 105 Regiment, Royal Artillery in nearby Partick.
Maryhill was known as the Venice of the North for its canals and the centre of the glass industry, with its Caledonia Works and Glasgow Works. Burgh Hall contains numerous stained glass windows produced by Stephen Adam depicting the industrious inhabitants of Maryhill.
Sport
Maryhill is also home to Firhill Stadium, home of Partick Thistle since 1909, and since 2005, the professional Rugby Union team, Glasgow Warriors. The junior team, Maryhill F.C. are also located in Maryhill.
Architecture, Canal-side and Modernisation
The Forth and Clyde Canal flows through Maryhill, at one stage forming a vital part of the local economy. It was for many years polluted and largely unused after the decline of heavy industry, but recent efforts to regenerate and re-open the canal to navigation have seen it rejuvenated. Along the canal-side, from the city centre along into to Maryhill: plans for canal-side apartments, similar to the rejuvenation of old industrial warehouses in the city of Manchester have been granted. Living by the old industrial canal-side of British cities has became very attractive and popular place for urban dwellers in the United Kingdom to find homes. There is a continuing demand for new housing to cope with the demand of people wishing to take advantage of the proximity of the amenities of the west end.
Celtic culture
Maryhill did house Glasgow's and indeed Scotland's first ever Gaelic language primary schools, where children are taught in the Scottish Language only. This is no longer true, as the old Woodside Secondary School, in the Anderson area now houses a combined nursery, primary education and secondary education, Gaelic school.
Police and Politics
Maryhill is home to the headquarters of what is now Glasgow North and East Dunbartonshire Division (formally) Division C Strathclyde Police, which is responsible for a huge swathe of the west and north west of the city and neighbouring suburban and rural county of East Dunbartonshire. Glasgow North and East Dunbartonshire Division (Division C) of Strathclyde Police are responsible for the safety of over 200,000 people. Maryhill is a constituent member of the Scottish Parliament, known as Glasgow Maryhill. Glasgow Maryhill was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 2005 when it was subsumed into the new Glasgow North constituency. The entire population of the Maryhill district of the city is around 52,000.
Maryhill in the Media
Maryhill has been the location for a number of television programmes and films, namely:
- Taggart, an internationally famous Glaswegian detective television programme, which is translated into many languages including German and Japanese is set and filmed in Maryhill. Fans and tourists still come to the Maryhill police station to take photographs.
- Trainspotting, A cafe in Maryhill was used as a set in Trainspotting, Jaconelli's at the Queens Cross area [1]. Also, Crosslands on Queen Margaret Drive was the pub where Begbie started a fight by throwing a glass over his head into a crowded bar [2]
- Interior scenes of hit CBBC children's programme Balamory are filmed in studios in Maryhill;
- The short lived 1960's TV soap 'The high life' was set in a tower block in the Wyndford area of Maryhill.
- The hit BBC television comedy series Chewin' the Fat was filmed in the area, a precedent followed by its successor the sitcom Still Game. They often showed local features including the Forth and Clyde Canal in the background and several other areas and landmarks of Maryhill in outdoor shots.