Rockvilla Mushroom Factory and School

Right next to the Spier’s Wharf branch of the Forth & Clyde Canal stands this rather ugly building – it’s been a very visible landmark just to the north of Glasgow city centre for as long as I can remember. Rockvilla is, as it sounds, an enormous rock – Possil road tunnels through it and under the canal, and there used to be a school perched on the rock, but all that remains of that is the boy’s and girl’s entrances which spiral up through the rock.

This building was once a bonded warehouse, but later it was used for growing mushrooms – hence the bricked-up lower windows. It’s most interesting for the fantastic views.

A view from an upper window, looking west over the canal:

Inside, it’s mostly bog-standard warehouse:

Some serious big steel doors, though:

And this is the view east to Spier’s Wharf:

The school was standard Victorian – the outdoor boy’s toilets are still standing:

The staircase that spirals up inside the rock is beautiful, though damned hard to take a panorama of 😉