It’s 10 years since my last report on the St. Peter’s Seminary in Cardross, and nice then quite a lot has changed but nothing has changed. The site was decaying for a long time, and it even looked as if demolition was on the cards, but then the arts group NVA took it over. They did a lot of work cleaning up and stabilising the concrete structure of the seminary, and although they did remove all the remaining wood they did preserve it for the future. Continue reading
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I visited the Tullis Russell paper mill in 2009, as a permission visit during their 200th anniversary, and they seemed to be doing very well – it was a very busy mill, lots of modern machinery, and apparently lots of orders. But only a few years later it collapsed and the mill closed in 2015. The last thing they did was launch a project to replace the old but beautifully maintained coal power plant with a modern biomass plant – where that stands there used to be a whole lot more, including some giant steampunk rag boilers. That plant was built and is now operating, but the mill next door is derelict. All the paper machines have been sold off and removed. Continue reading
When I last visited the Springburn Winter Gardens, they were in a bit of a state – very overgrown, and they looked like they didn’t have much time left. Continue reading
The Dalmellington Iron Company was formed in 1848 in Dunaskin, Ayrshire – a series of iron furnaces powered by a large blower house employed hundreds, but a strike in 1921 and ageing machinery led to the closure of the ironworks.
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This large WW2 air raid shelter in Port Glasgow was built for the workers of the large ropeworks nearby, in record time by a gang of Polish builders. Apparently there were five original entrances, from different parts of the factory. Apart from some junk, and a small fire in one entrance, it’s untouched internally – but time and rot has taken it’s toll. There’s still a lot of detail, though – canvas doors and toilet screens, cabling and pipework, remnants of benches – and, at one end, the air conditioning and generating plant. Continue reading
I guess I can tell this story now. Clydebridge steelworks to the East of Glasgow was founded in 1887, and in its heyday produced steel plate for many of the Clyde’s famous liners. When the M74 motorway extension was being built past the site, I took the chance to make a midnight visit.
Nipped into one corner of the giant shed, and though it was all lit up, everything was quiet. 
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Glasgow is full of derelict old schools like this – a lucky few are redeveloped. Most, like this one, end up being demolished – this one will become a car park. Springbank Public School was built in 1884 on the site of an earlier temporary school building by the Glasgow School Board.
BASF’s plant in Paisley is about 60 years old, and was producing around 18,000 tonnes of pigments a few years ago. However it’s been downsizing, and will probably be closing completely soon. I’ve been visiting for a while – it’s still very much a live site so it took a bunch of trips to see most of the interesting buildings before they were demolished.
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