Glasgow is a city of districts, each with its own character, history and loyalties. Most began as separate villages or burghs and were absorbed as the city grew. The Gorbals, Calton and Anderston were annexed in 1846; Pollokshields followed in 1891; and in 1912 the great shipbuilding burghs of Govan and Partick were finally brought into the city after years of resistance.
The East End was the industrial heartland. The Calton was a weaving village, where six striking weavers were killed in 1787; Bridgeton grew around the cotton mills; Parkhead was home to Beardmore’s forge and to Celtic; and Dennistoun was laid out as a planned suburb. South of the river, the Gorbals became a byword first for overcrowding and then for comprehensive redevelopment, while Govanhill, Pollokshields and Shawlands show the variety of the Southside.
The West End and the north tell different stories. Partick was a milling and shipbuilding burgh, Finnieston and Anderston grew up around the docks, Maryhill developed along the Forth and Clyde Canal, and Springburn was once the locomotive-building capital of the world. Possilpark grew around the Saracen Foundry, while Bearsden, beyond the city boundary, keeps the remains of a Roman fort on the Antonine Wall.
After 1945 the city spread outwards again, building vast housing schemes on its edges to rehouse families from the slums. Easterhouse and Castlemilk were among the largest, and their histories are among the most important of the modern city. In the centre, the Merchant City has been reborn as a district of homes, bars and galleries. Each guide below follows a district from its origins to the present day.
Every article in this chapter: