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Hi, I'm @AnabelMarsh, one of GWL's Women's History tour guides. We can't take you on any walks at the moment, so I've created a virtual East End tour for you. This is a circular walk which we usually start at Glasgow Cross, but today I’m starting at the library. Why? 1/25
So that I can tell you straight away that we’re open again! Check out the link for more info. 2/25 https://womenslibrary.org.uk/2020/08/24/re-opening-glasgow-womens-library-the-countdown-begins/
GWL is the only accredited museum in the UK dedicated to women’s lives, histories, and achievements. We’re open to all and have been in this lovely building since 2013. It was previously home to Bridgeton Public Library which is still nearby in the Olympia Building. 3/25
Most people associate Singer with Clydebank, but a Singer factory opened 12 years earlier in 1873 on this corner across James Street from GWL . The sewing machine revolutionised the lives of working class women who could now make clothes for themselves – or to sell. 4/25
On a similar theme, further down James Street is the Logan and Johnston School of Domestic Economy (1893-1936). The beehive sculpture represents the industry of the girls within. The building is now private accommodation. 5/25
Continuing to Glasgow Green, our first stop is the Drying Green where women washed and dried clothes from 1450 onwards. The first wash-house was built in 1732 and the last “steamie” closed in 1960, though the drying green was used well into the 1970s. 6/25
Opposite the drying green is the former Templeton's carpet factory. While this glorious façade was under construction in 1889, a storm blew it down onto the weaving sheds, killing 29 women. They are commemorated at the nearby gate (and we'll see another memorial later on). 7/25
Nearby is the People’s Palace, a leading museum of women’s history. From 1974 to 1991 the curator was Elspeth King whose ground-breaking book “The hidden history of Glasgow’s women” (1993) is highly recommended. 8/25
Behind the Palace are the Winter Gardens. At the side entrance shown here you can find a pavement plaque commemorating Sister Smudge, Chief Rodent Operative and the only cat to become a full member of the GMB Union! 9/25
This is Nelson's Column in the centre of Glasgow Green. Generations of women have rallied on the Green including Suffragettes, women from the Singer factory who went on strike in 1911, and in WW1 the Women's Peace Crusade which mustered 14,000 demonstrators in 1917. 10/25
On your way out of the Green, stop at the Temperance Fountain. The first completely teetotal society in Glasgow was the Radical Temperance Society (1836). Five of its founders were women, including four from one Bridgeton handloom weaving family. 11/25
Leave the Green and carefully cross into Turnbull Street, passing the former Central Police Station where Emmeline Pankhurst was arrested in 1914 following a rowdy suffrage meeting. 12/25
Nearby, St Andrews in the Square is where Agnes Craig (1759-1841) married in 1776. A well-educated poet and renowned conversationalist, she had a platonic relationship with Robert Burns. In their intense correspondence they used the pseudonyms Clarinda and Sylvander. 13/25
Moving on to Glasgow Cross, the Mercat Cross looks ancient, but was built in 1929 to a design by Scotland’s first female practising architect, Edith Burnett Hughes. During @GlasgowDOD last year, GWL walkers saw the interior animal figures by Margaret Cross Primrose. 14/25
The street west of the Cross, Trongate, used to be called St Tenu’s Gait after the mother of St Mungo, Glasgow’s patron saint. Tenu is also known as Thenue and – Enoch! Check the St Enoch Centre for the mural in the food court by Jacki Parry which lists other variations. 15/25
We’re heading back east, up Gallowgate. Left is the Saracen Head pub which retains a mysterious skull, allegedly that of Maggie Wall “last witch to be burnt at the stake”. There’s also a monument to Maggie at Dunning in Perthshire, but no records confirm her existence. 16/25
Opposite the “Sarry Heid” are the Barrowland Ballroom and the Barras Market, both started by Maggie McIver (1880-1958). The Barras started when Maggie, a former barrow girl, and her husband began renting barrows to other hawkers, followed by a static market from 1920. 17/25
Maggie put on a dinner dance for her hawkers each Christmas and, allegedly, when her usual venue was booked one year she built her own! The original ballroom burned down just after Maggie died – the current Barrowland dates from 1960 and is still a hugely popular gig venue. 18/25
Turn right into Bain Street where there is a blue plaque on what was once a seafood shop run by Battling Betty McAllister, campaigner and Scotswoman of the Year 1984. She famously told Margaret Thatcher that she could stick the poll tax where the sun don’t shine! 19/25
At the end of Bain Street, turn left up London Road, passing Thenue Housing Association, which we now know is named for St Enoch! At Calton Heritage and Learning Centre there is a pavement memorial to the women who died in the Templeton disaster mentioned a few stops ago. 20/25
Cross Abercromby Street to Calton Burial Ground (an interesting visit if you have time – there are memorials to the Calton Weavers Massacre of 1787). This street, en route from the Duke Street Cattle Market to the river, used to be known as Witches Loan. Why? 21/25
Cattle seemed to be spellbound as they passed. Was this witchcraft, or due to the cows being the victims of poor pasture and recovering when they reached lusher ground by the Clyde? You decide! NB look out for the new mural of St Thenue here. 22/25
Our final stop is Bridgeton Cross's colourful umbrella. In the 1830s and 40s, Bridgeton was an important centre of Chartism which sought votes for all men over 21. Although Chartists disagreed about female suffrage, women still played a vital role in the organisation. 23/25
We’re now just round the corner from the library. If it’s open, why not pop in for a warm welcome, and copies of the maps for all our walks, trails and cycle ride? If it’s closed, you can download them from our #WomenMakeHistory page. 24/25 https://womenslibrary.org.uk/discover-our-projects/women-make-history/
Finally, how about you? Tell us about the women you come across on your walks: place names, street art, memorials etc. Tag @womenslibrary and #WomenMakeHistory. My fellow guide Joy has written a blog post with some ideas. Bye for now! 25/25 https://womenslibrary.org.uk/2020/06/09/turn-your-walk-into-a-herstory-treasure-hunt/
