Tollcross () is an area north of the

River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and has a popular park, opened in 1897, which is famed for its international rose trials. It lies approximately a mile east of the neighbouring suburb of

Parkhead Parkhead () is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet (place), hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necro ...

, and just north of Braidfauld and south of

Shettleston Shettleston (, ) is an area in the Glasgow#East End, east end of Glasgow in Scotland. Toponymy The origin of the name "Shettleston" is not clear and, like many place-names of possibly medieval origin, has had a multitude of spellings. A papal bu ...

. Tollcross was incorporated into the City of Glasgow in 1912.

History

The area was once host to mass employment in the industrial age thanks largely to the large Fullarton steel works (now occupied by housing).

McVitie's McVitie's () is a British snack food brand owned by United Biscuits. The name is derived from the original Economy of Scotland, Scottish biscuit maker, McVitie & Price, Private company limited by shares, Ltd., established in 1830 on Rose Street ...

biscuit factory was one of the main employers in the area before its closure in 2022: its facility had been active in the area since the 1920s.Tollcross

Gazetteer for Scotland The ''Gazetteer for Scotland'' is a gazetteer covering the geography, history and people of Scotland. It was conceived in 1995 by Bruce Gittings of the University of Edinburgh and David Munro of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and co ...

Many residents of the Lilybank housing estate would consider themselves residents of Tollcross, but they, like the biscuit factory, were officially placed within the separate Braidfauld Ward of

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Ghlaschu'') is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority for Glasgow, Glasgow City council area, Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Glasgow was former ...

until its reorganisation in 2007; since then, Maukinfauld Road has been the local administrative boundary, with land to the west in the Calton ward and land to the east in Shettleston ward along with the rest of Tollcross. Part of the Tollcross area was formerly known as Egypt, and is still marked so on a number of maps; the name is believed to have been derived from a farm that existed at one time in the vicinity, operated by a former soldier who had been stationed in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. The farm, owned by the Gordon family in the 1920s before being sold to the Hamilton family. The poet William Miller, author of " Wee Willie Winkie", is buried in Tollcross. In June 2011, pupils from St. Aidan's and St. Joan of Arc School combined into a new school located on Fullarton Avenue. They voted to call the new school Cardinal Winning, after

Thomas Winning Thomas Joseph Winning (3 June 1925 – 17 June 2001) was a Scottish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Glasgow from 1974 and President of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland from 1985 until his death. Winning wa ...

, the late Archbishop of Glasgow who died in 2001; the new school opened on 21 June 2011. Just south of the school is Fullarton Park, home to the local football club Vale of Clyde, and the Tollcross Bowling Club adjacent to a modern retail park on London Road.

Tollcross Park and Winter Gardens

Tollcross Mansion House

was built in 1848 for James Dunlop, who was one of the owners of the Clyde Iron Works. David Bryce and William Burn were the architects and the building replaced a substantial house that the original owners of the estate, the Corbets, had occupied. In 1897 the house, now within the centre of the public park, became a Children's Museum and was converted into flats in 1989,Williamson, Page 477 then as accommodation for the elderly in 2003. Tollcross Park occupies an area of between

and Tollcross. It opened in 1897, having been purchased by Glasgow Corporation from the Dunlop family.Tollcross Park

In 2008, Tollcross was voted the best park in Scotland with its children's farm based around the former main lodge building at its eastern side, the

rose garden A rose garden or rosarium is a garden or park, often open to the public, used to present and grow various types of garden roses, and sometimes rose species. Designs vary tremendously and roses may be displayed alongside other plants or grouped ...

in the southern section (set out in 1986, which holds annual cultivation trials)Everything's coming up roses at Tollcross Park
Evening Times, 24 August 2012 playing fields in the north part and a secret garden area. Tollcross Park - inside the Winter Gardens - geograph

Tollcross Park - inside the Winter Gardens - geograph

The Tollcross conservatories were originally erected in 1870 at Redholm in

Ardrossan Ardrossan (; ) is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in southwestern Scotland. The town has a population of 10,670 and forms part of a conurbation with Saltcoats and Stevenston known as the 'Three Towns#Scotland, Three Towns'. Ardrossan is loca ...

, North Ayrshire. Baillie A.G. MacDonald of Redholm gifted them to the Glasgow Corporation in 1898 as a gesture to commemorate his links with the area. They were carefully dismantled and re-erected at their present-day site. The Tollcross cast-iron Victorian conservatory (NS 63659 63721), is a B-Listed structure, known as the 'Winter Gardens'. It is Latin-cross shaped in layout, has two semicircular ends and is crowned with a dome. The scrolled cast iron buttresses are a notable feature. The conservatory suffered storm damage in December 2010 and January 2011. The conservatory and associated building have been closed since that time.Fears damaged Winter Gardens may stay closed for Games 2014
Herald Scotland, 12 June 2013 The Winter Gardens are on the 'register of buildings at risk in Scotland'. The Winter Gardens underwent a £1.9 million refurbishment between 1998 and 2000 carried out by a partnership of the Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Environment Scotland and Glasgow City Council. A tent-like extension was built that housed a cafe, toilets, etc. and after being closed for fourteen years the Winter Gardens were opened again in November 2000. In 1997, the East End Leisure Centre in Tollcross Park became a feature of the area,Glasgow, 350 Wellshot Road, Tollcross International Swimming Centre
Canmore featuring an Olympic-sized swimming pool which is used by the City of Glasgow Swim Team. It was renamed as the ''Tollcross International Swimming Centre'' and renovated to serve as the swimming venue of the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

held in the city.

Notable people

* Jack House (1906-1991) Journalist and author * Tom Leslie (1884–1961), footballer

References

;Notes ;Sources and Bibliography * Tollcross Park Heritage Trail. Land and Environmental Services. Glasgow City Council * Williamson, E., Riches, A. and Higgs, M. (1990). ''The Buildings of Scotland : Glasgow''. London : Yale University Press. .

External links

*
Video of the Winter Gardens in 2016.
{{Areas of Glasgow Areas of Glasgow Culture in Glasgow Parks and commons in Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games venues Types of garden Greenhouses in the United Kingdom Glass architecture Category B listed buildings in Glasgow Botanical gardens in Scotland Gardens in Glasgow 1897 establishments in Scotland Shettleston