ABERCROMBY ST
The line of Bellgrove St. and
Abercromby St. is that of a very old route which is believed to have been formed
across the Gallowmuir as far back as the 12th century. In 1124 John Achaius was
Bishop of Glasgow and in that year he inaugurated the construction of a stone
and wood cathedral on the site of St. Mungo's Church. The mediaeval Glasgow,
being still a rather small town, could not accommodate the masons who laboured
on the structure and as a consequence they had to bide in Rutherglen. There was
no direct road to Glasgow and the workmen are thought to have travelled to and
from the town via Dalmarnock ford and the Gallowmuir, and through the years
created the track by their passage.
Senex in his annals of the city notes that the pathway was known as the Common Lone in Queen Mary's time (during the 16th century) and at some point thereafter acquired the name Witch Lone. This name is thought to have arisen in the Middle Ages when belief in witchcraft was general and many measures taken to thwart the activities of the Devil's disciples. The cattle of some farmers in the Craigs, north of the Gallowmuir, were ill and it was believed to be the result of witchcraft. Their own protections against the spells were ineffective so the animals were removed down the lone to the grasslands beside the running water of the Clyde - running water apparently being anathema to witches. The beasts thrived on the rich grass but on being taken back to the Craigs again fell ill. On being returned to the Clydeside they again recovered. It seems probable that the cattle were simply responding to better pasture than was available on the Craigs. However, in bygone days it was the supernatural world that received the blame and the lone derived its name from its connection with the events.
With the increasing development of the estates on the Gallowmuir, it became inevitable that the track must either vanish beneath buildings or be improved; the latter was its fate. Soon after purchasing the lands of Annfield, east of the northern section of Witch Lone, in 1838 Glasgow merchant John Reid proceeded to widen and pave this section of the route which was later named Bellgrove St.. The southern section had acquired a variety of names with time - from the Gallowgate it was South Witch Lone, then Abercromby St. and then Clyde St.. The later had also been known as Cross St. when Calton was founded. Finally, however, its entire length took the name Abercromby St. - after one Sir Ralph Abercromby who died in Egypt in 1801 during the Napoleonic Wars - and its ancient title fell completely into disuse.
It was the City Improvement Trust which was responsible for the development of Abercromby St. and the removal of slum housing which had accrued, giving it the prospect which was to last to the present day. The only features of particular significance remaining in modern Abercromby St. are the Catholic church of St. Mary's, Abercromby St. Cemetery and Bridgeton Health Centre. The southern end of the street has been diverted westwards so that it now continues on across London Rd into Arcadia St.. This routes the traffic to the Glasgow Green and south of the river which previously had to go through the one-time chaos of Bridgeton Cross. The original southern part of Abercromby St. still opens out to the London Rd but now forms a cul-de-sac.
© 2005 Gordon Adams
