Society visit two very different ‘palaces of the people’
Members of the Arran Historical Society last week set off on a rainy morning bound for two very different ‘palaces of the people’ in Glasgow. But by the time we left our coffee stop at Braehead the weather improved and the remainder of the day was sunny, writes Norma Davidson.
Our first venue was the City Chambers in George Square. This impressive building was opened 150 years ago at a cost of £500,000. The interior is grand, with magnificent marble staircases connecting the three floors. Marble columns, priceless paintings, many from the Glasgow School, and mahogany panelling is everywhere.
The building is now licensed for weddings, and corporate functions take place there, but, of course, it is principally the meeting house for Glasgow City Council.
We sat in the extremely comfortable council chamber while our guide explained procedure. There are more than 80 elected councillors who attend their respective committee meetings, and the full council meets every six weeks to make council decisions. Councillors are also able to access the building at any time to use their offices.
Queen Victoria officially opened the chambers in 1888, and it is still a treasure trove of the very best of Victorian craftsmanship. There are two public tours each week-day and I would encourage anyone who has not been there to visit.
Beautiful
We then were taken to the Peoples’ Palace on Glasgow Green. For more than 500 years the green has served the people of Glasgow well. From the days of being grazing land, vegetable beds, the location of the slaughterhouse and a public place of execution, a drying green, it has evolved into a beautiful green park.
In 1568 Regent Moray assembled his army on the green before defeating Mary, Queen of Scots at the Battle of Langside. Charles Edward Stuart had his troops there after the retreat from Derby and before Culloden.
The annual Glasgow Fair was held here and it has had many illustrious visitors including Benjamin Franklin, William Wordsworth and Mother Theresa of Calcutta. Today the green itself hosts the World Pipe Band Championships, Proms in the Park and pop concerts.
Nearby the iconic Templeton’s carpet factory is now converted into luxury flats, The Doulton fountain with the statue of Queen Victoria atop has been refurbished and is the largest terracotta fountain in the world, Nelson’s Monument, a sandstone obelisk, stands 44 metres high, and despite a violent lightning strike in 1810 still stands as a prominent landmark.
Work on the Peoples’ Palace began in 1895. Designed in orange Dumfries sandstone by A B McDonald, it was opened in 1898. A spectacular conservatory was erected adjacent to the palace and this was a great venue for concerts by such ensembles as the Glasgow Orpheus Choir.
The palace is a museum of the people of the east end of Glasgow and still is a repository of Glasgow life with exhibits as disparate as a slave’s collar, the Anderson shelter of WW II, a ‘single end’ tenement flat, a replica of a Buttercup Dairy, a realistic cell from Pitt Street Jail, a display about the Red Clydesiders and Billy Connolly’s banana boots.
A fascinating day, renewing old memories for some, learning new things for others, but certainly we all gained a greater appreciation of the great City of Glasgow and its people, past and present.