New ‘ bird’s eye view’ map of city unveiled as trust turns 15
FOR 15 years, Glasgow City Heritage Trust has helped restore and protect some of our best known and most loved buildings. To mark its milestone anniversary, the charity unveiled a new map of the city which shows how it has changed over the past 150 years.
As revealed in Times Past earlier this year, artist Will Knight has been working on a contemporary, detailed, illustrated snapshot of Glasgow inspired by Thomas Sulman’s Bird’s Eye View map, published in 1864.
It is part of the trust’s successful Gallus Glasgow project, as Rachel Kacir, heritage manager, explains.
“We’re really excited to have commissioned this map, following in Sulman’s footsteps, and leaving behind our own impression of Glasgow in 2022 for people to explore in another 150 years’ time,” she says.
“Will Knight has done an incredible job, and it’s been fascinating to watch his meticulous process as the map has developed over the last six months or so. It’s interesting to see how some places have barely changed, such as Glasgow Green, which still dominates the bottom righthand corner of the map, with the notable addition of the People’s Palace.
“Other areas, meanwhile, have changed beyond recognition, and the impact of transport infrastructure including the Kingston Bridge and Central Station is stark.”
Will, who studied architecture at the Glasgow School of Art, says: “Sulman’s drawing is of a city in time, recorded with the same forensic detail and accuracy that my work seeks to achieve.
“His drawing hums with life, the urban stage set and props dealt with carefully and artfully with the same hand, the buildings and streets between them recognisable not just by their form but by the life, and that animates them, horses, pedestrians and boats on the Clyde show the city as a place of movement and congregation, and change – depicted by the numbers of gap sites in construction.”
He adds: “Likewise, the cranes and smoking chimney stacks and stockyards show a city of trade and industry, growing and groaning with Victorian life.
“I hope this new work encourages and enables people to see the city of today afresh, with its changing skyline, busy motorways and bridges, and pedestrian thoroughfares and to see across the whole city from ‘ the gods’.”
GCHT deputy director Niall Murphy says that over the last 15 years, the trust has invested £ 11.6 million towards the repair of 560 of Glasgow’s historic buildings, including landmarks such as the Willow Tea Rooms and the South Rotunda, as well as tenements including Walmer Crescent and Camphill Gate.
“We’ve also contributed more than half a million pounds to projects which help Glaswegians understand, look after and celebrate their heritage, including the Lost Glasgow, End of the Line and Gallus Glasgow exhibitions – just three of 36 exhibitions we’ve hosted,” he says.
“We’ve organised nearly 300 lectures and CPD events, and even launched a popular podcast.
“It was a pleasure to be able to celebrate our work and thank our funders, Historic Environment Scotland and Glasgow City Council, our friends and supporters, and all our staff, trustees and our two patrons, Professor John Hume and Professor Robin Webster, in the City Chambers on Friday.”
For more information about the Gallus Glasgow project and to explore Sulman’s 1864 map in detail, visit the dedicated project website at gallusglasgow. glasgowheritage. org. uk.