Shedding light on the old town
Peace and quiet reigned in Neilston Road in our historic picture, which was probably taken in the 1950s.
The location is number 72, and as can be seen from our updated picture, things are very different today.
The main building housed what look like flats, and pretty small ones they must have been.
Constructed from what looks like large lumps of stone, it must have dated from the early years of the 20th century or earlier.
And the buildings on either side –one of them a fish restaurant – are typical of the era, and belong to a the most basic of architectural styles that amount to a jumble, albeit a charming one.
And just look at that lamppost soaring above the street and well above the chimney tops.
These were the wayside giants that not only lit the way home, but which were discreet examples of everyday architecture that were quietly magnificent in their own way.
They were not so much street light as lanterns that took their inspiration from their gas-lit predecessors and which have an enduring place in the romantic imagination. As Robert Louis Stevenson famously wrote: “For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door/And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more/And O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light/O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight.”