Braidfauld

Braidfauld is a small area of

Braidfauld ward, extending from Parkhead to Sandyhills,^[2] was an artificial creation and few residents recognised the name other than as a sub-district of the area, feeling more affinity (depending on where they lived) with neighbouring areas such as Lilybank, Parkhead and Tollcross. It is now within the larger Shettleston ward.

Origins of name

The neighbourhood is named after Braidfauld Farm, which is mentioned on local maps until the 1930s, at the junction of London Road with the now Braidfauld Avenue. "Braid" is Old Scots for the top of a slope. A "fauld" was the poorer part of the village fields left fallow until manured by grazing sheep or cattle. "Braidfauld" was the "fallow land at the top of the slope". Similarly, "Maukinfauld" was the "fallow land pestered by hares" ("maulkens" in Scots). Braidfauld Street ran to a farm of that name, as Maukinfauld Road, in the middle of the district, ran to the farm after which it is named.

History

Auchenshuggle

Braidfauld Street was the terminus of the Number 9 tram, opposite the Auchenshuggle woods. Auchenshuggle was a hamlet slightly to the north east, and was part of the Easterhill Estate, which ran down to the River Clyde. Easterhill House, erected as a country retreat by Glasgow merchants in the 19th century has been demolished. Other farms underlying modern Braidfauld were Braidfauld and Maukinfauld farms and Newbank House (all mentioned on an 1865 map). Lilybank is not mentioned on any earlier map and is named after the a boiler works already existing there, John Thomson (Wilson Boilers), whose original works were in Lilybank Road, near Eglington Toll.

Dalbeth

Beyond the woods is the site of the Dalbeth Estate. The estate was primarily a country retreat, but the owners worked the freestone and coal underneath. It is even said some local gold was found while, in the shallows of the Clyde large mussel-like bi-valves often provided serviceable pearls. Here Thomas Hopkirk established the prize collection of rare plants which became the basis of the Glasgow Botanic Gardens in the West-end.

Later, in 1850, Dalbeth returned (after 300 years) to the possession of the

Like the other great houses erected by Glasgow merchants, Dalbeth House has disappeared, as has the 19th-century convent, though the administration building of the cemetery may incorporate parts of both. The sisters' cemetery is still there, slightly to the side of the much larger St Peter's Cemetery, Dalbeth, which included a Jews' Cemetery in the 19th century. There are distinctive Polish and Italian parts of the cemetery, and many locally famous Catholics (including John Wheatley) are buried there.

Govancroft Pottery 1911-1981

Across London Road, at the corner of Potter Street, was the substantial Govancroft Pottery. At one point this had (according to the Pottery Society), "a monopoly of (ceramic) jam jars" which it exported throughout the world. Latterly, it produced distinctive thistle shaped ware. A quick search on the website indicates that there is still a substantial trade among collectors for them. The pottery was closed in 1981. A set of modern houses has taken their place, called "The Potteries".

Westthorn

Further west again (close by the

The east end of Glasgow was initially the preferred choice area of Glasgow's tobacco merchants and they built several country estates in the Braidfauld and surrounding area. None of these buildings survives, all having been demolished and the estates turned into housing. The estates included Easterhill House,[4] Dalbeth House, Westthorn House^[5] and Belvidere House - each was photographed in the late 19th century by Thomas Annan. The buildings at the entrance to 1920 London Road are the remains of the lodge house for Dalbeth House.^[6]

The Farm Shop in Cuthelton Street was part of the 18th-century farm in that area.

19th century

The administration building for St Peter's Cemetery, Dalbeth was part of the 19th-century Convent of the Good Shepherd and may incorporate part of the original Dalbeth House. Eastwards of the entrance to the driveway is a much remodelled 19th-century cottage, set back from the road at the entrance to the Nuns' Cemetery.

Half-a mile westwards on London Road, opposite the entrance to the former Belvidere Hospital, is a much re-modelled two storey family house, possibly related to the original farm. It is of locally quarried sandstone and is probably of about the middle of the 19th century. All that remains of the ruins of Belvidere Hospital is the imposing, Administration Building, in classical style and of the same grey sandstone.

Overlooking Tollcross Road, and set in its original grounds, is

Between Maukinfauld Road and Braidfauld Street is a post-World War II development of low-rise houses, many semi-detached or short terraces.[7] A range of low-rise "maisonette"-type houses, some in closes, some short terraces, were built in Glenisla Street in the 1960s. They are brick built and roof-tiled.

In the 1980s, the council began releasing land for private development (something it had previously declined to do). Eastwards along the railway, new houses were erected in the 1990s as was a development known as The Potteries (on the site of the old Govancroft Pottery). On Tollcross Road, east of the Deer Park tenements, flats in an extensive, super-modern block was built in 2005.

Industrial and commercial

The only major industrial or commercial buildings are the United Biscuits factory in Clydeford Drive^[8] and a range of hangar-type developments along the London Road in the old Westthorn estate, mostly concerned with bottling or storing whiskey (Allied Distillers and John Dewar & Sons Ltd).^[1]

Famous residents

• Glasgow University
  named after him.
• National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, the Tate Britain in London, and as part of the Government Art Collection
  (GAC). Many can be viewed on-line.
• Dalbeth
  .
• Jack House (1906–1991) was a locally renowned journalist, historian and novelist. He was born in 13 Deerpark Gardens, on Tollcross Road, opposite the park, though he moved to Dennistoun when he was two.
• Lord Provost of Glasgow
  between 1988 and 1992. She lives in the constituency.
• Kay Carmichael Social activist who lived on benefits in the area for a short time to find out about the conditions.

References

External links

• http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/YourCouncil/Council_Committees/Councillors/ward45.htm gives a Council factsheet on Braidfauld.
• http://edina.ac.uk/stat-acc-scot/ - click ‘browse scanned pages’ then search for « Barony » to see a facsimile of the Reverend Mr John Burns’ account for the First Statistical Account of Scotland (1791–99)
• http://www.electricscotland.com/history/glasgow/carmyle_kenmuir.htm - gives an extract from ‘Rambles Round Glasgow’ (1854) by MacDonald
• http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/smihou/ - for photographs and histories of the great houses on the Clyde (that is, Easterhill, Dalbeth, Westthorn and Belvidere)
• https://web.archive.org/web/20071001032003/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gordon.adams1/GlasgowHistory/Books/ - for many resources on the history of Tollcross and Dalbeth
• http://www.hopkirk.org/hopkirk/Page122321.html - a family history site, containing a portrait an information on Thomas Hopkirk of Dalbeth
• https://web.archive.org/web/20090201124315/http://www.davidbryce.org.uk/intro.html - a site dedicated to the architect of Tollcross House.

Paintings by John Quinton Pringle can be viewed on:-

• http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collections Archived 28 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
• http://www.tate.org.uk/
• https://web.archive.org/web/20060213210824/http://www.culture.gov.uk/about_dcms/gac.htm

Bibliography

• Burt, John ‘Working Class Housing in Glasgow’ in S D Chapman (ed) ‘The History of Working Class Housing’ David and Charles 1971.
• Corporation of Glasgow ‘Short Account of the Municipal Undertakings of the City of Glasgow.’ 1938
• Corporation of Glasgow Housing Department ‘Review of Operations 1919 - 1937’ (1937)
• Damer, Seàn & Hartstone, Linda ‘A Social History of Glasgow Housing 1919 to 1965’ Appendix III Articles, from Déviance et Société Vol 15 No 3 pp 293–299 1991
• Damer, Seàn ‘From Moorpark to "Wine Alley"- the rise and fall of a Glasgow housing scheme.’ Edinburgh Education and Society Series, Edinburgh 1989.
  ISBN 0-85224-622-6
  / 0 85224 657 9 pbk
• Gibb, Andrew ‘The Development of Public Sector Housing in Glasgow’ (University of Glasgow, 1982)
• Gibb, Andrew ‘Glasgow: the making of a city’ (1983)
• Jury, A. G., Housing Centenary: A Review of Municipal Housing in Glasgow from 1866 to 1966,(Glasgow, 1966).
• McLellan, D (ed) ‘No Mean City to Miles Better’ (1988)
• Mooney, Gerry ‘Living in the periphery: housing, industrial change and the state’ (1988 - unpublished PhD thesis, University of Glasgow; copy Mitchell Library Glagow ref f363.50941443 MOO).
• Niven, D ‘The Development of Public Housing in Scotland’ Croom Helm (London 1979)
• Pacione, Michael ‘Housing Policies in Glasgow since 1880’ Geographical Review Vol. 69 No.1 (Copy in Mitchell Library Glasgow ref GC f 363.5094 1443 PAC H)
• Pacione, M., Glasgow, The Socio-Spatial Development of the city,(Chichester, 1995).
• Smith, John G and Mitchell, John O ‘The Old Country Houses of the Old Glasgow Gentry’ 2nd ed 1878)
• Strathclyde Regional Archivist ‘Housing in 20th Century Glasgow: Documents 1914-1990s’ from Housing in Glasgow - plans, studies and datasets.
• Williamson, Elizabeth, Ritches, Anne & Higgs, Malcolm ‘The Buildings of Scotland: Glasgow’ Penguin Books in association with the National Trust for Scotland 1990
• Worsdall, Frank ‘The Tenement - a way of life. A social, historical and architectural study of housing in Glasgow’ W & R Chambers Ltd, Edinburgh 1979
  ISBN 0-550-20352-4