The Victoria Park Nature Walk path was once the Lanarkshire &amp; Dunbartonshire Railway line in close proximity to the Goods Yard of Whiteinch Victoria Park Station (1896). Now used as a cycle path, a pedestrian walkway and a popular dog walking route, it is easily accessed from all parts of the community via lanes and underpasses. The nature trail runs from the end of the Expressway in East Scotstoun up to to Westbrae Drive in Jordanhill.

Victoria Park Nature Trail (central area)

This is one of three heritage trails within Scotstoun. They all start and end at Heart of Scotstoun Community Centre. This trail is centred in a busy area with main roads and a well used cycle path which has cyclists, pedestrians and dog walkers. Please make sure you exercise caution at all times and where  possible use pedestrian crossings.

The community centre, car park and gardens are on land which was once occupied by The Albion Motor Car Company (1903).Heart of Scotstoun took part in their first ever Doors Open Day in Sept 2019 where months of hard work and research put together an exhibition about Albion. Over 200 people came along to see the pictures and information boards, renew old friendships and make new ones

Heart of Scotstoun Community Centre with The Cherry Tree Café opened in January 2011. Towards the end of the construction phase the original name of "Heart for Scotstoun" was dropped in favour of "Heart of Scotstoun"






Heart of Scotstoun Community Centre

During the Blitz a bomb was dropped between Earl Street killing 66 people and injuring many more

This residential street was build in the 1890s to provide homes for the influx of workers to Scotstoun in the late 19th century. The buildings are typical of Glasgow’s red sandstone tenements. Sandwiched between Dumbarton Road and the NCN 7 cycle path, Earl Street starts and ends at the boundaries of Scotstoun - Henrietta Street (east) and Ardsloy Place (west) - making it the longest street entirely within Scostoun.

Earl Street tenements

A temporary iron building was erected on this site and opened for worship in 1901. Work began on a permanent stone church in May 1905 and the first service was held in October 1906. The church's bell was donated by Miss Louisa Gibb and when this tolled on a Sunday latecomers were known to comment that they'd better hurry up as Louisa as calling them!

The congregation joined with Scotstoun East Parish Church (originally Scotstoun United Free Church) in the late 1980s and the old church fell into disrepair. It was destroyed by fire on bonfire night in 1997 and subsequently demolished. Flats now stand on its site

The original posts and fencing are all that remain of this category B listed building

Scotstoun West Church

Victoria Drive Higher Grade Public School was opened on 31 August 1909. The three story building cost £19,537 and provided accommodation for 1,200 pupils in 23 classrooms. The ground floor was for infants, the first floor for juniors and the second floor for higher grade pupils. An annexe to the school was built in the mid-1930s at the corner of Danes Drive and Queen Victoria Drive, and additional accommodation was added to the rear of the building in Queen Victoria Drive in the 1960s. During the Second World War a barrage balloon was situated in Raploch Avenue where part of the school playground was located at the time.

All that remains of Victoria Drive School is the stone posts at either corner of Birchfield Drive and Larchfield Avenue which serve as a reminder that schools were built with separate entrances and playgrounds for girls and boys

Victoria Drive School (site of)

The avenues of Scotstoun Conservation area were built between the end of 19C and 1912 starting at Lennox Avenue from the eastern end, Vancouver Road, Duncan Avenue, Ormiston Avenue, Dunglass Avenue, and lastly Verona Avenue at the western end. The western side of Queen Victoria Drive are also part of the conservation area.
Going from North to South - Danes Drive, Norse Road, Earlbank Avenue and Dumbarton Rd
The last houses in the conservation area are situated across Danes Drive on Northland Drive and Upland Road (terraced houses only)

Names of some of the avenues changed between 1913 and 1933 but at the ends of terraces the original names of the ‘cottages’ are discernible.  On the stonework of the Earlbank Avenue terraces you may see ‘Camperdown Cottages’ on the south side terraces but ‘Howe Cottages’ on the north side terraces.

The streets and houses at the western end of this area were last to be built and have fewer embellishments to the stonework.  A noticeable element of this is in the terrace names:  as you walk along the north side of Norse Road there are no terrace end names in the stonework but on the south side of the same street ‘Oscar Cottages’ appears at the ends of terraces. 

Similarly the avenues running from Dumbarton Road to Danes Drive are distinguished as ‘Darnley Cottages’, ‘Moray Cottages’ and ‘Haldane Cottages’ only as you move towards the eastern boundaries of the conservation area.




Scotstoun Conservation Area (west section)

"Lucy boxes" got their names from the majority of them being made by the Lucy Foundry in Oxford These boxes are sometimes green and sometimes silver. They were originally used for the tram network and later the trolley bus network, also for electrical and telephone purposes Three Lucy Boxes are situated within Scotstoun Sports Campus on the pathway between the large football pitch and the 2 5-a-side pitches. A further 3 are adjacent to the fence between the large football pitch and the nature walkAnd there is one on Norse Road and one at the corner of Dumbarton Road and Balmoral StreetMaybe you can spot some more while exploring the Heritage Trails

Lucy Box (Norse Road)

Looking to the right is a modern housing development Lennox Gardens which was once the site of Whiteinch Episcopalian church

St David's Episcopal Church was built around the end of the 19th century and demolished in around 1975. It was a modest hut, surrounded by a grassed area, and served as an outreach church for All Saints Church in Woodend Drive, Jordanhill.A modern housing development Lennox Gardens now sits on the site once occupied by the church

St David's Episcopal Church

Unusually lovely, out-of-the-ordinary lamp-posts, with decorative flourishes and historic detail, crop up here and there amongst the more municipal, boring ones. These intriguing lamps – some are attached to buildings, rather than mounted on posts – are a reminder of an old Scottish tradition. As the Provost had no official residence in Glasgow, it became a tradition to place a pair of lamp posts at their personal residence

This tradition used to be observed throughout Scotland and originated from the practice of lighting lamps at the homes of bailies, or civic officials. The gas-lit lamps bore the burgh or city coat of arms and highlighted where people could find the bailies if they needed them.

During the twentieth century, the gas-lit lamps were replaced with electric ones, and could be installed above tenement doors or on flats

Provost's lamp (1 Danes Drive)

One of the biggest leisure facilities in the city, Scotstoun Sports Campus is home to the National Badminton Centre, Scotstoun Stadium and Scotstoun Squash Centre. Victoria Park Athletics Club also share space with Glasgow Warriors Rugby TeamThere is a café in the leisure centre at this point of the Heritage Trail, and toilet facilities can be found in several of the buildings

Scotstoun Sports Campus

Originally Glasgow Agricultural Society Show Ground (1907), the space has hosted a wide range of public events including Horse Shows, large sporting events and Glasgow schools sports days and World Pipe Band championships. Two big events from the early decades of 20C are particularly notable: a Flying Machine display organised by Scottish Aeronautical Society (1914) and a Boy Scouts Rally addressed by Earl Haig (1920). Look over at the perimeter wall to the left where the stables for the Horse Show events were located.

Scotstoun Show grounds

Lucy Boxes (Scotstoun Sports Campus)

The Danes Drive Bridge crossed the branch line of the Whiteinch Railway Company (1874) from Dumbarton Road in Scotstoun to Crow Road at Jordanhill. This railway company was bought over by North British Railway (1891) and introduced a passenger service in 1897

Danes Drive railway bridge

Across Danes Drive, beyond the double roundabouts junction, all that remains of Whiteinch Methodist Church (technically in Jordanhill) is a gate at the housing complex carrying the name ‘Anglegate’. The church opened in 1901 and closed in 1981. The original name of Angelgate was restored after the church was closed

Whiteinch Methodist Church

The building has been in Church of Scotland ownership since 1945 but was opened as Glasgow Institution for Orphan &amp; Destitute Girls (1891). The Home accommodated fifty-three resident girls in 1904, rising to sixty-one in 1905. They attended the local school and received at least one year's training in the Home in every branch of housework, before they were found employment, usually in domestic service.During a period from 1945 young apprentices at Albion Motor Car Company and Yarrow’s whose homes were in the north of Scotland or Western Isles were accommodated as lodgers in the Church of Scotland Homes.

Glasgow Institution for Orphan & Destitute Girls

The Whiteinch Homes (now a category B listed building) were built around 1890 by the James Allan Trust in the style of English 17th century almshouses. They were intended originally for elderly employees of the Allan Shipping Line. In the 1980s the building was acquired by the Thomas Chalmers Housing Association, and reopened after refurbishment in 1989 as a care home for the elderly. The buildings now form Westland Drive sheltered housing complex and are managed by Bield

Whiteinch Homes

Victoria Park (20 hectares/50 acres) was originally acquired by the Burgh of Partick. The park was named for Queen Victoria's golden jubilee in 1887 and is considered to be Glasgow's prettiest park. The park boasts an extensive range of formal floral displays and hollies. The park is very popular with the neighbouring communities of Whiteinch, Scotstoun, Jordanhill and Broomhill, with visitors also coming from further afield. With many different aspects to the park it has its own Heritage Trail

Victoria Park

At the southern end of the Victoria Park Nature Walk path is the unmarked site of significant railway sidings and buildings associated with Lanarkshire & Dunbartonshire Railway line, including the Goods Yard of Whiteinch Victoria Park Station (1896).

Used as a cycle path, a pedestrian walkway and a popular dog walking route, it is easily accessed from all parts of the community via lanes and underpasses. The nature trail runs from the end of the Expressway in East Scotstoun up to to Westbrae Drive in Jordanhill.

Victoria Park Nature Trail (south area)

Lennox Avenue was the first of the avenues to be built in Scotstoun Conservation area
There are five blocks of ‘artisan cottage flats’ built with red and cream brick and having long gardens.  These were built by Scotstoun Estate Building Company established in 1895 reputedly to provide homes for estate workers.


Lennox Avenue

The avenues of Scotstoun Conservation area were built between the end of 19C and 1912 starting at Lennox Avenue from the eastern end, Vancouver Road, Duncan Avenue, Ormiston Avenue, Dunglass Avenue, and lastly Verona Avenue at the western end. The western side of Queen Victoria Drive are also part of the conservation area.
Going from North to South - Danes Drive, Norse Road, Earlbank Avenue and Dumbarton Rd
The last houses in the conservation area are situated across Danes Drive on Northland Drive and Upland Road (terraced houses only)

Names of some of the avenues changed between 1913 and 1933 but at the ends of terraces the original names of the ‘cottages’ are discernible.  On the stonework of the Earlbank Avenue terraces you may see ‘Camperdown Cottages’ on the south side terraces but ‘Howe Cottages’ on the north side terraces.

The streets and houses at the western end of this area were last to be built and have fewer embellishments to the stonework.  A noticeable element of this is in the terrace names:  as you walk along the north side of Norse Road there are no terrace end names in the stonework but on the south side of the same street ‘Oscar Cottages’ appears at the ends of terraces. 

Similarly the avenues running from Dumbarton Road to Danes Drive are distinguished as ‘Darnley Cottages’, ‘Moray Cottages’ and ‘Haldane Cottages’ only as you move towards the eastern boundaries of the conservation area.



Scotstoun Conservation Area (east section)

Scotstoun primary school was opened in 1901 at a cost of £14,000. As well as teaching reading, writing and arithmetic, the school also provided cookery and science lessons. It was built to accommodate 1,280 pupils, although just before the Second World War there were 1,314 children on the roll Near the junction with Duncan Avenue the original stone supports for the school gate has ‘BOYS’ etched in the stonework, a reminder of times past when boys and girls had separate playgrounds and entrances. The 'GIRLS' gates are near the junction with Ormiston Avenue The southern façade of Scotstoun Primary School has ‘Renfrew Landward School Board’ above the windows of the classrooms as Scotstoun did not become part of Glasgow Corporation until 1926.

Scotstoun Primary School

Designed by H E Clifford, Scotstoun United Free Church was dedicated in 1906. The congregation had been established in 1902, with early services being held in the adjacent church hall. The union of 1929 brought the congregation into the Church of Scotland and the parish became Scotstoun East. Following amalgamations with Scotstoun West (1987 - destroyed by fire and demolished) and Whiteinch (1992 - converted into flats), the building was renamed to Scotstoun and Whiteinch Parish Church. The church was later renamed Scotstoun Parish Church after the re-establishment of Whiteinch Parish Church in February 2000 and is now the only remaining church in Scotstoun

Scotstoun Parish Church

No 92 Earlbank Avenue is at the junction with Dunglass Avenue.  This house is of particular interest in relation to the history of The Albion Motor Car Company:  in 1903 Thomas Blackwood Murray, one of the co-founders of ‘The Albion’ is recorded to have bought this house and to live there with his wife, three children and three servants!  

The other co-founder Norman Osborne Fulton was married from 8 Ormiston Avenue to Margaret, a sister of Blackwood Murray.  This house although nearby is not part of the heritage trail


92 Earlbank Avenue

Unusually lovely, out-of-the-ordinary lamp-posts, with decorative flourishes and historic detail, crop up here and there amongst the more municipal, boring ones. These intriguing lamps – some are attached to buildings, rather than mounted on posts – are a reminder of an old Scottish tradition. As the Lord/Lady Provost had no official residence in Glasgow, it became a tradition to place a pair of lamp posts at their personal residence

This tradition used to be observed throughout Scotland and originated from the practice of lighting lamps at the homes of bailies, or civic officials. The gas-lit lamps bore the burgh or city coat of arms and highlighted where people could find the bailies if they needed them.

During the twentieth century, the gas-lit lamps were replaced with electric ones, and could be installed above tenement doors or on flats

Provost's lamp (122 Earlbank Avenue)

Standing on Balmoral Street railway bridge look south towards the river. Most of the land you see would have been occupied by Albion Motors Looking north towards Dumbarton Road you see the Earl Street tenementsWorkers were brought to Balmoral Street and South Street by trams operated from 1894 by Glasgow Corporation

Scotstoun Heritage Trail - central loop

Victoria Park Nature Trail (central area)

Introduction

Images