Pollokshields

Pollokshields
Renfrewshire
Pollokshields Burgh Hall
Location
Location:	55°50’32"N, 4°17’6"W
Data
Population:	9,738  (2015)
Post town:	Glasgow
Postcode:	G41
Dialling code:	0141
Local Government
Council:	Glasgow
Parliamentary constituency:	Glasgow Central

Pollokshields is a district in the Southside of Glasgow, forming part of the parish of Govan in Renfrewshire. It is a conservation area which was developed in Victorian times according to a plan promoted by the original landowners, the Stirling-Maxwells of Pollok, whose association with the area goes as far back as 1270.

History

Pollokshields was established by the Stirling-Maxwell family in 1849, and was set out or 'feued' by the Edinburgh architect David Rhind. Many well-known Glaswegian architects contributed to its development and, among others, it contains villas by Alexander 'Greek' Thomson. There are several contributions by contemporaries of Charles Rennie Mackintosh including a series of good 'Glasgow style' tenements by the architect H. E. Clifford, who was also responsible for the 'A' listed Pollokshields Burgh Hall, in Scottish Baronial style which was inaugurated in 1890, with Maxwell Park. The ground for Maxwell Park was given by Sir John Stirling-Maxwell of Nether Pollok in 1888, and the park was formally opened at the same time. Such was its early population growth Pollokshields attained burgh status in 1876. However, this ended in 1891 when after being offered favourable tax terms the residents of the burgh agreed to it becoming a suburb of the growing city of Glasgow. The Victorian and Edwardian architecture and the parks of this area have remained almost untouched, leaving the feeling of a leafy Victorian suburb, while being well within the city.

Burgh Hall

Pollokshields Burgh Hall was designed by H. E. Clifford during the Scottish Renaissance in the late 19th Century and is currently listed as a significant building of Pollokshields. Built in Ballochmyle Red Freestone it was opened in 1890 by Sir John Stirling Maxwell whose coat of arms is depicted in the entrance porch in the stone of the Hall and is recorded in marble in the floor. To the outside of the building there is very high tower, housing a turret stair and balcony. Throughout the building there are detailed stained glass windows, brought from the town of Pollokshields. The lodge house adjacent comprises two flats; the Sanitary Inspector and the Park Gardener used these facilities as living accommodation and they are currently privately let by the Burgh Hall trust. In 1891 the Burgh Hall passed into the hands of Glasgow Council when the city extended its boundaries. In 1938 the back of the building was enlarged; however this meant that the last gallery in the spacious hall had to be sacrificed in order to permit the building of an extension.

Education

There are five primary schools in the area and four secondary schools in and around Pollokshields.

Pollokshields Primary on Albert Drive; Glendale Primary and Glendale Gaelic School on a shared campus located on the south edge of Pollokshields; St Albert's Primary to the west; and the private Craigholme School for Girls on Nithsdale Road.

The four secondary schools in the vicinity are Bellahouston Academy (located on the western edge of Pollokshields near just south of Ibrox stadium and Paisley Road West) Shawlands Academy (inside the Shawlands area approximately a mile south of Pollokshields), Craigholme School Secondary on St Andrews Drive (an extension of the nursery and primary schools), and Hutchesons Grammar School, a private secondary school on Beaton Road.

Architecture

The architecture in Pollokshields is predominantly a mixture of Victorian tenements and large detached and semi-detached properties dating back to the late 18th and early nineteenth centuries.

The Church of St Albert the Great in Pollokshields was originally built for a congregation of the United Presbyterian Church. The Italian Renaissance design by John B. Wilson was also used in another building, Stockwell Free Church, in 1887. St Albert's original title was Albert Road Church, being named after Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, rather than the German saint of the same name who is the current patron. The Archdiocese of Glasgow acquired the church in 1965 for the new parish and with minimal interference to the original interior or exterior design, it was brought back into use as a church in 1967. The cream sandstone facade has a very attractive octagonal vestibule and tall bell tower. St Ninian's church is part of the Scottish Episcopal Church located on the corner of Albert Drive and Pollokshaws road.

Pollokshields Church of Scotland.

Pollokshields Church of Scotland was built as Pollokshields Established Church by Robert Baldie in 1877–1878. The architecture is mixed Gothic with an early English tower with tabernacles above the broaches of the spire at the southwest comer of the building. The tower has a clock face on each of its four sides. The south (entrance) front has a large geometrical window above a row of trefoil headed windows with stiff leaf capitals. The side aisles have twin lancet windows beneath the clerestory of triple lancet windows to the main church. The interior has aisle arcades formed by polished granite columns on high octagonal sandstone bases with French Gothic capitals supporting pointed arches beneath the clerestory windows and the high scissor braced roof trusses. Each column cap is different The timber roof of the side aisles and the main trusses add to the grandeur of the interior. The south balcony is reached by a staircase from the east porch. The deep chancel was remodelled in 1912–1914 with new organ, pulpit and communion table.

Sherbrooke St Gilbert's Church is another Church of Scotland congregation. The church was built in 1894 and had to be rebuilt following a serious fire in 1994. It is located on Nithsdale Road, close to Dumbreck railway station.

Sports

Clydesdale Cricket Club is located at Titwood on the periphery of Pollokshields. Founded in Kinning Park in 1848 by Archibald Campbell, it was formed by members of two previous clubs which played on Glasgow Green, to cater for the burgeoning residential developments south of the river Clyde. It is now the oldest surviving team sports club in Glasgow. On moving to Pollokshields in 1873, the club sold its previous grounds in Kinning Park to a newly founded football club called Rangers. At that time, the club also fielded a football team, Clydesdale F.C., which were runners-up to Queen's Park F.C. in the first Scottish Cup final in 1874, after many associated with the club had been instrumental in the foundation of the Scottish Football Association.

Transport

Currently there are three functioning railway stations in Pollokshields: Maxwell Park railway station, Pollokshields East railway station (just across the border in Lanarkshire) and Pollokshields West railway station, all on the Cathcart Circle Line. Crossmyloof railway station on the Glasgow South Western Line and Dumbreck railway station on the Paisley Canal Line sit just outside the district's bounds. Closed railway stations include Pollokshields railway station and Strathbungo railway station.

Pollokshields is also served by Shields Road subway station on the Glasgow Subway, located in a non-residential area in the extreme north of the district, and by numerous bus routes.

Pollokshield's location offers easy access to the M77, M8 and, M74 motorways.

Notable residents

Notable people who have lived in Pollokshields include:

• Prof. Ernest Dunlop FRSE MC, bacteriologist and Lieutenant during the first world war.
• Albert Alexander Gray FRSE - physician and otologist
• John MacCormick - politician
• Rustie - musician.
• Eric Woolfson – songwriter.
• Dougie Donnelly - Scottish media personality.
• Very Rev. Thomas Niven - Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1906
• Tom Urie - Actor.
• Raymond McGinley - Musician.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Pollokshields)

• pollokshieldsheritage.org
• Pollokshields Church of Scotland
• Southside Happenings
• Pollokshields – Garden Suburb
• sherbrooke.org.uk