A Short History of St Enoch Square in Glasgow
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- Below a city centre square in the middle of Glasgow lies a saint.
Saint Thenew, or Saint Teneu, was the mother of a 6th century priest, Kentigern, regarded as the man wholly responsible for the creation of Glasgow, a city variously named over the centuries as Cathures or Glaschu, the dear green place. Kentigern later also became a saint, affectionately known as Saint Mungo. Saintishness must have ran in the family.
And long time ago what is now St Enoch Square was indeed a dear green place, sitting on the western edge of the city and noted as being 'a solitary spot in the country, surrounded by cornfields'. How times change.
The name Thenew or Teneu changed over time, as words often do, and eventually became 'enoch'. And that is why we have a St Enoch Square in Glasgow; burial place of a saint.
Of course, you'd never know that beneath your feet lay the remains of 'a 6th century Brittonic princess of the ancient kingdom of Gododdin', or Lothian, as it's now known. And you'd never know that she was buried below a medieval chapel built over her resting place. For today, for a few months each year, St Enoch Square hosts a fun fair, where kids have fun and long-departed saints throw up their bony hands in despair. Is there no respect these days!
Of all the streets, lanes, squares and byways in Glasgow, St Enoch Square has probably seen more change, demolition, and general upheaval than anywhere else.
A church was built over the old chapel and Saint Thenew's remains back in the late 18th century. For a while it was the only thing in the square. Then houses were arranged around it, and a small fountain - visible only in Sulman's Bird's-Eye View of Glasgow dating to 1864 - and what had previously been a nice spot in the countryside became something of an upmarket residential area. But times change and people move. The church lasted until 1925 before being demolished.
Then in the 1870s the railway arrived, and St Enoch Square was dominated by a huge railway hotel containing upwards of 200 bedrooms. But the railway station and the hotel only lasted about 100 years before they too were demolished. Thank you Doctor Beeching! The rubble from both was used to fill in Queen's Dock by the River Clyde.
And then - are you still paying attention? - something else was built, a massive glass and metal shopping centre, opened in 1989, and it too dominated the square, although not in as grand a way as the old hotel and station.
But the St Enoch shopping centre itself is now due for demolition, sometime in the next 15 to 20 years. What will replace it? Does anyone care? More upheaval. More demolition and building. Glaswegians could be forgiven for thinking they live in a building-site and not a city.
Meanwhile, the bones of a saint lie under the ground.
It's always lovely to find a new video of yours in my 'suggestions' list. This one is up there with the best you've ever created. I agree totally about the desecration of what is most sacred about Glasgow. The resting place of Thenew, currently the site of a fun fair. Similar in my mind to the Molendinar Burn being used as a sewer - also Ladywell from which saints once drank, turned into a brewery. They wouldn't do that in Glastonbury now would they? The endless erasure of our architectural history and identity sickens me. The merging images of the old maps and photos that you skillfully put together, is one of the delights in these short films, even though they usually leave me feeling sad. Once destroyed, we cannot bring a building back, and so the extent of the ( ongoing ) destruction is unforgiveable. Perhaps it could be if what replaced it was more majestic and beautiful, but we all know it simply isn't. As always, your evocative music lends an invigorating backdrop to the presentation of these sorry tales of wanton havoc wreaked upon our Dear Green Place. My ancestors would weep if they could see the city now. It's as if some unseen force were treating this sacred city with utter disdain, verging on hatred.....
Another great video Eddie, I was an agency driver for W.J. Malcolm when the St Enoch hotel was being demolished. So I feel like I should apologise for my part in the monstrosity that's replaced the lovely old building.
I remember after shopping with my parents going to afternoon tea in the St Enoch hotel. Glasgow was the most beautiful place full of stunning architecture. A college lecturer told me when in Glasgow look up, the carvings on the buildings are amazing. But then the architects and bulldozers came. And took away a lot of the beauty and left behind soleless structures.
Glasgow seems to have been subject to more than its fair share of industrial vandalism. The construction of the M8 through the centre of the city saw the needless destruction of many fine buildings, all in the pursuit of a defunct German planning paradigm. It seems our planners and overlords have learned nothing and are hellbent on re-enacting the same mistakes all over again. Brilliant video Ed. Thank you so much.
I Remember As A Boy I Used To Deliver Milk From The Scottish Farmers Depot In Possil Rd to St Enoch's Square, And Along Argyle St, And On The Wall Leading Up To The Station Was A Big Enamel Sign, And, It Said, They Come As A Boon, And, A Blessing To Men, The Pickwick, The Owl, And, The Waverley Pen, I'm Now 82, And I've Been In Austalia 60 Years, But, I'll Always Remember That Sign In St Enoch's Square, But, What A Horrible, And Disgusting Mess They Have Made Of An Iconic Glasgow Land Mark, JIM CAMPBELL.🥴🥰🏴🏴🏴
Great video ,remember the square well when I was young I had to get my bus home from the square and I always admired the hotel and I couldn’t believe the council decided to knock it down.
Incredible video, so cool to hear you have living memory of the St Enoch train station. Getting rid of the church and the train station is mental. I feel there is a pattern, a systematic need to destroy. The average life of a Glaswegian would be so much better if we managed to maintain our old architecture well, we could of be a top tourist site for the world, as we are not specialising in much else anymore. Prop to giving Mark Worst credits in the video, fyi 'Ejec'/'Ejek' was reponsible for the Gorbals Vampire piece, and is responsible for quite a few other murals in the city. Looking forward to your next video!
When are you doing GCC tribute to downtown Gaza?…. also known as Sauchiehall Street! 😡
Striving for money rather than improvement
As someone who worked as security in a shopping centre, when I saw you filming I thought.... g'wan ya rebel! Get a whole movie done in that place!! 🤣 Sorry to hear they busted you. I think they may be knocking it down for student flats. In the end of the 90s there were only three Universities in Glasgow, and two private accommodation blocks had just opened. However now 25 years later there are a whole massive number of three Universities in Glasgow and only 6493 buildings built or renovated into private student flats... WHERE DO THE STUDENTS LIVE WITH SO FEW OPTIONS!? Anyway I don't know much about Glasgow now since I had to move away 6 months ago because I couldn't find anywhere to live. I'm not a student so all the empty rooms in those places were not any use to me and there was nowhere else affordable or and council housing for anyone disability or not. 🤷♂
Thanks Eddie for one of your best videos so far, I arrived in the Gorbals (Hospital street aged 0) in 1957 and for the next 13 years wandered the streets and watched the destruction of a society, a people and a way of life and all for the modernisation (enrichment) of a few elite, who cared nothing for the history, society or culture therein nor had a care for the people
GREAT VIDEO SUPERB OLD PICS , THANKS FOR THE STORY REALLY INTERESTING !! :) LOVE THE OLD WORLD STUFF !! Exvellent !!
Standing at the bus stop on Waterloo Street on Saturday evening with my wife, daughter and our wee granddaughters to put them on the bus home. We were right opposite the old Postman's Office ( I was in the job 30 years but only fleetingly in Waterloo Street) and my daughter came out with "Look how beautiful that building is.... Then look along there, they're just glass boxes!" I don't know what beautiful buildings they've cleared away but whatever it was, they can't be replaced. I can remember someone, possibly an architect involved in the design of one of these "cubes" , quite possibly the St Enoch centre by saying it had "Self cleaning windows" I must admit, I had Stan Laurel laughing with Olly at a table running in my head lol
Thank you, Ed. Now when I drive around this area of Glasgow, I see it so differently, knowing more of it's history. Love your videos 💞
Great video Eddie I remember there was a tunnel you could walk through from Dunlop St , at the side of Lewis's Argyle St to Howard St under the railway there where large Iron gates and it was like going back to a Jack the Ripper setting really quite eerie dark with walls and ceiling dripping with water and a musty smell, I have been looking for photos of the gates and tunnel but cannot find any. Keep up the good work I really enjoy your videos!
I was born in 1965 and I have to say I thought I'd imagined seeing the old St Enoch hotel based on photos and suchlike. Thanks for putting my mind at ease.
Was a social crime to demolish the St Enoch Hotel. I used to frequent it as a kid as various family worked there. I can remember the servants entrance tunnel most of all. You could step out of the square on a hot summers day and then into the servants tunnel. It was so contrasting eerie dark and most of all it was always cold. Was like a victorian street with cobbled cart tracks. Servants tunnel ran under the ramp you see above the arches. Entrance was through one of the arches.
Thank you Ed. Yet another interesting video. Please keep the coming.
Had a wee pub below the station called the Eagle which had a stuffed eagle atop the bar.
Heart breaking