Parkhead ( sco, Pairkheid) is a
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
in the
East End of Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
. Its name comes from a small
weaving
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal th ...
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necropolis cemetery was laid out in the area in 1847 beside the Gallowgate.
History
The area flourished with the discovery of
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
in 1837 and grew into an industrial centre. In 1897
William Beardmore and Company
William Beardmore and Company was a British engineering and shipbuilding conglomerate based in Glasgow and the surrounding Clydeside area. It was active from 1886 to the mid-1930s and at its peak employed about 40,000 people. It was founded and ...
became famous with the production of high grade
steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
and castings at the local ''Parkhead Forge'', founded about 1837 and extended between 1884 and 1914. After years of decline, the massive plant was closed in 1976, and in 1986 the construction of the first phase of
The Forge Shopping Centre
The Forge Shopping Centre (or Parkhead Forge) is in the East End of Glasgow, in Parkhead. The shopping centre bore the name from the former William Beardmore and Company steel works site, which had closed in 1983.
History
Construction
The ...
began on the site. The shopping centre opened in the autumn of 1988, and in 1994 an indoor market was added adjacent to it. The final element, a
retail park
A retail park is a type of shopping centre found on the fringes of most large towns and cities in the United Kingdom and other European countries. They form a key aspect of European retail geographies, alongside indoor shopping centres, standal ...
, was completed in three stages between 1996 and 2002.
![Parkhead Cross (street sign) - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Parkhead_Cross_%28street_sign%29_-_geograph.org.uk_-_562738.jpg)
Parkhead Cross is a major road junction which is the meeting point of Gallowgate,
Duke Street, Westmuir Street, Tollcross Road and Burgher Street, which together form a turreted
Edwardian
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...
five-way junction, including several fine buildings making the junction notable, such as the former ''Glasgow Savings Bank''. The junction, which also incorporates the northern termination of the major Springfield Road thoroughfare, can become very busy due to traffic for football games at nearby
Celtic Park
Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...
.
Most of the district's amenities and places of worship are situated within a few blocks of the Cross.
Hospitals
Belvidere Hospital
Belvidere (from the Latin ''bellus'' + ''videre'', meaning "beautiful sight") may refer to:
Places Australia
* Belvidere, South Australia, a small town southeast of Strathalbyn
* Belvidere Range, South Australia, a mountain range
* Hundred of Be ...
, built on the Belvidere estate which extended from London Road to the
River Clyde
The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...
, originally consisted of wooden huts thrown up rapidly when the city's older fever hospital at Parliamentary Road was overwhelmed by a
typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure.
...
epidemic in 1870. A self-contained
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
hospital of five brick pavilions was built from 1874. After this, nineteen pavilions of red-and-white striped brick were set up for the fever hospital. In recent times, with the general closure of infectious disease hospitals, care of elderly people became its main function before closing in 1999.
Parkhead Hospital
Parkhead Hospital was a mental health facility on Salamanca Street in Parkhead, Glasgow, Scotland. It was managed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
History
The facility, which was commissioned to replace the mental health functions of the Duke S ...
, which opened on 12th November 1988, was said to be the only new psychiatric hospital to be built in Scotland in the 20th century. (However, some 18th and 19th century institutions did move to new buildings during the 20th century.) It was built on part of the old forge land, next to the Parkhead Health Centre, and replaced the psychiatric and psycho-geriatric admission wards of both
Duke Street Hospital
The Duke Street Hospital was a health facility on Duke Street in Glasgow, Scotland.
History
Duke Street was originally a Poor Law hospital, commissioned by the Glasgow Parish Council. The facility, which was designed by Alfred Hessell Tiltman ...
(formerly known as the Eastern District Hospital) and
Gartloch Hospital
Gartloch Hospital was a mental health facility located on the Gartloch Road near the village of Gartcosh, Scotland. It opened in 1896 and was officially closed in 1996. It was managed by NHS Greater Glasgow.
History
In January 1889 the City of ...
- both units moved into the new hospital in 1988 on the day of a
Rangers-Celtic match at the nearby Celtic Park. The hospital closed in 2018, with the intention of building a new health facility on the site.
Libraries
Parkhead also has one of Glasgow's original
Carnegie libraries, deftly designed in the Edwardian Baroque style by
James Robert Rhind
James Robert Rhind, architect, was born in Inverness, Scotland in 1854 and trained as an architect in his father's local practice.
He was successful in the architectural competition for new libraries to be constructed in Glasgow following Andrew C ...
.
Sport
Celtic Park and Barrowfield
![Parkhead from the air (geograph 5374235)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Parkhead_from_the_air_%28geograph_5374235%29.jpg)
Parkhead is perhaps best known as the home of
Celtic Football Club
The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...
and their stadium
Celtic Park
Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...
, which opened in 1892 after the club moved across the road from their old ground, which they had been playing on for their first three years. A journalist covering the event reported that it was like "moving from the graveyard to paradise", referencing the proximity of the adjacent cemetery, hence the nickname "Paradise". Celtic Park is located at 95 Kerrydale Street, just off London Road. The
stadium
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
itself is commonly referred to as 'Parkhead' because of its location.
From the early 1960s, Celtic conducted most of their training routines at a facility on the periphery of Parkhead named Barrowfield, east of Celtic Park
(it is not located in the
Barrowfield
Barrowfield is a neighbourhood of Glasgow, Scotland, close to Celtic Park, home of Celtic F.C., which lies immediately to the east. It is bounded by the A89 road (Gallowgate) to the north and the A74 (London Road) to the south.
History
Being ...
residential area which lies to the west of the stadium toward
Bridgeton). By 2005, those facilities were seen as antiquated, particularly in comparison to those of their
Old Firm
The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...
rivals
Rangers at
Auchenhowie.
Celtic considered building new facilities at their site in Barrowfield,
but instead decided to develop the
Lennoxtown training centre
Lennoxtown Training Centre is Celtic F.C.'s training centre, located at Lennoxtown, East Dunbartonshire in Scotland. The complex houses the club's training and educational facilities.
Background
Lennoxtown was designed to replace Celtic's former ...
outside the city. Today there are still football pitches on the land as well as a large Celtic social club; the Celtic first team temporarily resumed training at Barrowfield in November 2011, after a spate of training ground injuries led manager
Neil Lennon
Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish football coach and former player.
During his playing career he represented English clubs Manchester City, Crewe Alexandra and Leicester City. Lennon moved to Celtic in 2000, where he ...
to fear that the Lennoxtown pitches were responsible.
In 2019, Celtic announced plans to redevelop Barrowfield for use by their
youth academy
In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...
and
women's team, including an indoor pitch and a matchday venue, augmenting the Lennoxtown base which would continue to be used by the first team squad and strengthening their connection to their roots in the East End of Glasgow.
Other
Prior to its dissolution,
Parkhead FC was one of the most successful
Junior
Junior or Juniors may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959
* ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009
* ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010
* ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019
Films
* ''Junior'' (1994 ...
sides of the first half of the 20th century. Two other strong teams of the time,
Bridgeton Waverley and
Strathclyde
Strathclyde ( in Gaelic, meaning "strath (valley) of the River Clyde") was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government et ...
also had their grounds in close proximity (New Barrowfield and Springfield Park respectively); none of the three clubs survived into the late 20th century.
[ Parkhead's ground ''Helenslea Park'' is now a landscaped public park.
There are also two bowling clubs and a derelict sports ground (''Helenvale Park'', formerly used by the Glasgow Corporation Transport department which had a large bus and tram depot nearby) in the vicinity – ''Crownpoint Sports Complex'', a replacement modern outdoor athletics track, is located beyond the western border of the district adjacent to St Mungo's Academy.] After the 2014 Commonwealth Games was held in Glasgow, Parkhead now has international-class sporting facilities within walking distance: the Commonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome
The Commonwealth Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, known for sponsorship reasons as the Emirates Arena, is an indoor arena and velodrome in Dalmarnock, Glasgow, Scotland. Built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, these venues hosted the badminto ...
are located in nearby Dalmarnock
Dalmarnock (, gd, Dail Mheàrnaig) is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated east of the city centre, directly north of the River Clyde opposite the town of Rutherglen. It is also bounded by the Glasgow neighbourhoods of P ...
.
Rail
* Parkhead North railway station
*Parkhead Stadium railway station
Parkhead Stadium was a railway station in the east end of Glasgow. It was opened by the Caledonian Railway as Parkhead on 1 February 1897.Butt (1995)
In recognition of its proximity to the Celtic Park
Celtic Park is the home stadium of ...
Famous Residents
*John Scott Russell
John Scott Russell FRSE FRS FRSA (9 May 1808, Parkhead, Glasgow – 8 June 1882, Ventnor, Isle of Wight) was a Scottish civil engineer, naval architect and shipbuilder who built '' Great Eastern'' in collaboration with Isambard Kingdom Brune ...
, engineer
* Jim Cairney, footballer
*John Cairney
John Cairney (born 16 February 1930) is a Scottish film and television actor who is well known to audiences in Scotland and internationally through his one-man shows on Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Service, Charles Rennie Macki ...
, writer
See also
* Glasgow tower blocks
Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland, has several distinct styles of residential buildings, and since its population began to grow rapidly the 18th century has been at the forefront of some large-scale projects to deal with its housing issues, ...
References
External links
Parkhead History
Parkhead and Dalmarnock
socio-economic profile at ''Understanding Glasgow'' (2012)
{{Authority control
Areas of Glasgow