Botanics Station + Winston Barracks

[voodoo_john]

Hi!

On a mad fit of pique, my friends and I travelled to Winston Barracks today and crawled down the Botanics Station.

Managed to speak to the guard at Winston and he let us in and gave us a guided tour. It's a 48 acre site, and the developers have permission to build 50 houses.... but no indication yet as to when they will start.

Anyway, pictures of both places can be found on my website in the gallery section!

Enjoy

EDIT: Forgot to say, the guard (Joe Brown) let me photo a sheet of paper with contact details for the son of one of the station cheifs that was there in the 50's. Maybe Sharon could add it to the Winston page, as the man is quite keen for people who were stationed there to contact him.

john

[rosco]

Funny, I went down the tunnel to the Botanic Gardens Station yesterday too. Any chance you were coming out as we were going in?

A fine way to avoid the sunny weather, it was.

[voodoo_john]

Yep, that was me I was the guy in the ancient KoRN T-Shirt

Did you go right to the very end? We were planning to, but both me and the civil engineer forgot to lift a torch

[rosco]

Yeah we had some good torch action going on. Went right to the steel doors at the Kelvinbridge Underground car park, then all the way back.

It's probably about the same distance again from Kirklee to the Botanics Station. And theres a creepy man-like shadow on the wall visible for most of the tunnel. It was just another bricked-off doorway thankfully.

The graffiti down there is pretty good too. Definitely take a torch next time.

I'll probably post photos somewhere later...

[voodoo_john]

Aye I know what you mean about the shadows... those alcoves along the tunnel walls combine with every scary film you've seen to make your brains suspect a drug crazed jakie at every turn

[rosco]

Photos from my visit to the Botanic Gardens tunnel and station last Sunday are here.

Sharon, if you need/want bigger versions of any for the website, let me know.

[Apollo]

Found this pic of the Botanic Gardens station after the fire in 1970:



and it gave me the chance to post this:



Drawing of a proposed cinema for the Botanic Gardens that the austerity of the 1920's apparently put paid to.

[Ronnie]

The picture of the proposed cinema looks FAR more like the site on the corner of Byres Road and Observatory Road. Note the row of houses on the left, and the garage frontage (now Safeway/ flats) to the right.
Dr Nodrog will know more, no doubt.

[Apollo]

Funnily enough, I'm quietly hoping that very individual may be able to add some crumbs of knowledge to this little find. The description given came with it, and it is a drawing rather than a photo, so you can't tell how much artistic licence was taken with the surroundings

[AMcD]

Have a look at the advertising board on this picture of Byres Road from the virtual mitchell...

"The Botanic Garden's Picture House, ------ Lounge and Tea rooms"

347-357 Byres Rd, June 1930
http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/vm/images/g199/g019989x.jpg

http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/vm/images/g199/g019990x.jpg

Same one?

[Ronnie]

Looks very like it. Thanks, Allan.
I'd never seen these one-storey shops before.

[Apollo]

I am duly impressed by the memory that tied those images together.

Wonder what £45 k from the 30's is worth in today's confetti?

[nodrog]

Have a look at the advertising board on this picture of Byres Road from the virtual mitchell...

"The Botanic Garden's Picture House, ------ Lounge and Tea rooms"

347-357 Byres Rd, June 1930
http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/vm/images/g199/g019989x.jpg

http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/vm/images/g199/g019990x.jpg

Same one?

Yup, thats the same one. The same artists impression is in the Along Gt Western Road book if I remember correctly. Got bogged down in NIMBY-ism and never built - the red sandstone flats next to Safeway were built instead.

Quite a few cinemas were proposed for the west end that never actually happened - a big Odeon in Partick was cancelled due to the war, and plans to put one on the junction of Bank St and Gt George Street also fell through - seems local residents didn't like the idea as it would lower the tone of the neighbourhood....

Apollo: Can I ask where you found the drawing of the Botanic Gardens cinema?

(Apologies for not replying sooner, and hello from sunny Budapest!)

Gordon

[Apollo]

Apollo: Can I ask where you found the drawing of the Botanic Gardens cinema?n

Yup. New volume just added to the library; Page 47, its actually just above the same picture of The State (again) that appears in virtual Mitchell:

A Century of Glasgow
Sutton Publishing ISBN 0-7509-3899-4
http://www.suttonpublishing.co.uk

There's only a small handfull of cimema pics in it as it covers everything in the century.

[purplegrum]

Found some really mince pics we took of Winston Barracks last year after visiting some ROC Posts.

http://purpleorange.co.uk/purplegrum/winston/

Excuse the crapness of the pics, this was taken on my 'backup' camera and it was pelting down with rain.