Woodside is the area bordered on the north by the canal and on the south by Great Western Road, stretching approximately from the junction of Trossachs Street and Raeberry Street with Maryhill Road, to New City Road and the Phoenix Flowers at Cowcaddens. Our map shows what a diverse area is covered by the district of Woodside.

A distinct locality for centuries, Woodside’s varied fortunes over the years dictate what is left of our heritage for us still to see. Starting out as a rural environment, the wealthy moved in to spacious villas, and grand residences like Clarendon Place. Churches were built to serve this growing community, and St George in the Fields, St Columba’s, Lansdowne Church, Kelvin Stevenson Church,  and St Mary’s Cathedral can be seen today.

The area was transformed by transport links, when it became an ideal location for manufacturing industries. We can still see the remnants of the old Flint Mill, on the Kelvin Walkway.

Woodside quickly developed into an industrial heartland, though there are few remnants of that industry left to see – nothing is left of the foundries and quarries, apart from the Tower Building at Garscube Road, built in 1875 as offices and warehouses for James Allen of Elmbank Foundry.

Overcrowded substandard housing conditions, along with the decision to build the M8 Inner Ring Road, led to Woodside being designated as a Comprehensive Redevelopment Area (CDA) in the early 1960′s. The bulldozers moved in and slum housing and dilapidated factory buildings were swept away. Of the factories, only the City Bakeries building survives, with Waddells sausage factory and RS McColls sweetie factory only memories now.

In spite of that very deprivation, groundbreaking initiatives in health and education started here in Woodside, with the Sick Children’s Dispensary, and the Normal School, still standing as testament to those pioneering times.  Woodside Baths and Wash House was essential in those days for houses with no bathing or washing facilities, and is still at the heart of the community today as a modern health and fitness club. The nearby Woodside Library, just recently refurbished, one of  the earliest and the largest of the Carnegie Libraries to be built in Glasgow.

Methodist Central Halls provided a source of entertainment, and of community – and still does. The Boys Brigade building still stands, as does the Territorial Army building, both also important social centres. The TA still operates from these premises today.

A Heritage Trail is being prepared, with an accompanying booklet, so that you can stroll through Woodside to see these buildings and read a little bit of the history of one of Glasgow’s districts. Contact us if you want to know more…