The Gorbals - Times Past
In partnership with the Glasgow Times, our archivists are exploring Glasgow's fascinating history. This week, Nerys Tunnicliffe writes about the Gorbals.
The Gorbals’ historic reputation as a place of recent extreme poverty and ‘slums’, is like many reputations, only part of the area’s story. It originated as a small mostly pastoral settlement named Brigend, so called as it lay just south of a wooden bridge over the Clyde from what is now Stockwell Street. The ‘lands’ of the Gorbals stretched down to the modern day Govanhill and were owned by the church. A stone bridge paid for by local Bishop Rae replaced the wooden one in 1345.
There are several theories about the meaning of the placename Gorbals. Some say that its related to the Latin term ‘garbale’ for sheaf, and the Scots Gaelic term ‘garbal teind’ referring to payment to the church in the form of sheaves of grain, harking back to the ecclesiastical ownership of the area. More fanciful perhaps is the version that it refers to the clappers used by lepers to warn others of their presence, or the ‘glory bells’ rung at the lepers’ hospital in remembrance of wealthy donors. A leprosy hospital and chapel were established at the southern end of Brigend in 1350, dedicated to St Ninian and operating until the 1600s. Records show that King James IV gave alms to the hospital in 1491. The chapel remained standing near to today’s Citizen Theatre until it was demolished in the 19th century.
Post Reformation, the Brigend village and the lands of Gorbals were acquired by the Glasgow merchant and Lord Provost George Elphinstone who built a grand tower house on Main Street (now Gorbals Street). Elphinstone died in poverty however, and his ‘old mansion house’ later became a prison and courthouse, falling into ruin by the 1870s and torn down for redevelopment.
Before his death Elphinstone sold his lands jointly to Glasgow Town Council, the Trade’s House and Hutcheson’s Hospital around 1650. The village, now more commonly known as Gorbals, remained technically separate from Glasgow as a burgh in its own right. However, a Glasgow bailie was installed to oversee the lands with powers to punish wrongdoers. How the locals viewed this change unfortunately isn’t recorded, but it seemed that the village and its lands were already seen by those in authority as an expansion to the city.
Industry grew in the area with records showing Glasgow Town Council giving several Gorbals inhabitants rights for coal mining as early as 1655. The village was also known for weaving, brewing and malting, gun manufacture and shoe making.
Eventually in 1790 the lands of the Gorbals were officially divided, with the old village exclusively owned by the Town Council, other lands under the ownership of the Trade’s House became ‘Tradeston’ and the remaining lands owned by Hutcheson’s Hospital becoming the new suburb ‘Hutchesontown’.
The Hutcheson’s Trustees envisioned creating an upmarket residential area, as did James Laurie who purchased some of the grounds now named ‘Laurieston’. Laurie planned out several streets named after nobility including Cumberland, Norfolk and Bedford Streets. However, the growing industry in Tradeston, and close vicinity to works like ‘Dixons Blazes’ (Govan Ironworks) gave rise to an influx of working-class settlers and to heavy pollution deterring the intended middle-class market.
The Gorbals’ set up its own dedicated police force in 1808 but it wasn’t long before its independence from the city was formally ended. In 1846 Glasgow city’s boundaries were extended and the Gorbals administration and police force were merged into Glasgow’s. The Gorbals’ population was now about 40,000 and Glasgow City Improvement Trust set about trying to tackle the serious overcrowding of the old village’s buildings, replacing these with new tenements. The population continued to rise, with immigrants from the Highlands and Ireland, and Jews fleeing persecution from Europe, all attracted by the cheap housing and employment opportunities. By 1885 half of the pupils at Gorbals Primary School were Jewish. Many Gorbals’ families were squeezed into one or two roomed dwellings as tenements were sub-divided, and many tenements were poorly maintained.
In 1957 the council attempted to address overcrowding again, with the Gorbals becoming the first comprehensive redevelopment area (CDA) approved for redevelopment. The following widespread demolition of the redevelopment is still controversial, and more regeneration has taken place since. Overall, the history of the Gorbals is one of change and growth, from a small village to a busy city district.
The collections discussed in this article are held by Glasgow City Archives. Please email archives@glasgowlife.org.uk if you have any questions.
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