Pollokshields Heritage Trail, Glasgow

February 06, 2019

(The above image features Sherbrook Castle Hotel, originally a private house built 1896 and later converted to a hotel.)

This evening, I am posting information on a recent small group, six mile walk to learn about the residential architecture in Pollokshields, a high end suburb of Glasgow in the West of Scotland.

Firstly, the name Pollokshields is of interesting provenance, being of Gaelic origin and translates as 'huts at Pollock' with latter indicating a low lying place with pools of water. The name could date back about 1500 years and whilst the huts have long gone the underlying landscape is unchanged with the White Cart Water (river) flowing nearby.

The properties at Pollokshields also provide links with Scotland's geology and the industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th centuries when Glasgow was a powerhouse of manufacturing and heavy industry.

Geology: As will be evident from the images the properties are built of varying shades of sandstone which is a local resource. What is now Scotland was originally in the southern hemisphere and during the drift up to the northern latitudes spent a few million years close to where the Sahara Desert is now and hence the accumulation of extensive layers of sandstone rocks.

Industrial History: Glasgow's industrial might gave rise to a wealthy middle and upper class comprising professionals and business owners who had the wealth and motivation to escape the 'filth, crime, misery and disease' of the city in the mid 19th century.

Most of the properties featuring herein date from the Victorian and Edwardian periods (roughly 1850-1910) and represent the work of leading architects of their day including Alexander 'Greek' Thomson.

Private house at Pollokshields