Maryhill Burgh Halls

In 2004 the Maryhill Burgh Halls Trust was set up in order to bring the complex back into use for the local community.[4]

In 2006 the Cities Growth Fund granted the Maryhill Burgh Halls Trust £1.1 million. This funding allowed the Trust to carry out various preliminary tasks pertaining the restoration of Maryhill Burgh Halls including the necessary design and planning application work.[2] The restoration of Maryhill Burgh Halls took place between 2008 and 2011.

Stonework and masonry repairs in order to secure the stability of the structure took place in 2008.[5] Funding for the remaining restoration and development work was secured in Autumn 2009 after five years of campaigning by the Trust. A total of £9.2 million funding for the restoration and development of the halls was secured.[5][6] In November 2009 transfer of ownership of the halls, the police station, and the fire station from Glasgow City Council to the Maryhill Burgh Halls Trust took place.[5] The main restoration and development work on the parts of the complex under the stewardship of the Maryhill Burgh Hall Trust also started in November 2009. This work was completed in November 2011, and the halls re-opened in April 2012.[6]

The main funding sources for the restoration and development of Maryhill Burgh Halls are: Scottish Government City Growth Fund Phases 1 and 2, The Heritage Lottery Fund, Big Lottery (Growing Community Assets), The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Glasgow City Council Better Glasgow Fund, Glasgow City Council Vacant and Derelict Land Fund, Scottish Government Town Centre Regeneration Fund, Historic Scotland, Scottish Government Wider Role Fund, and Robertson Trust.[6]

The baths remained under the ownership of Glasgow City Council.[5] A separate project was undertaken by Glasgow City Council to convert the former baths into a modern leisure centre for the community of Maryhill.[5][6] The leisure centre was opened in April 2010[2][3] and makes available a 25m swimming pool, sauna, gym, sports hall, dance studio, and other facilities for community use.

The stained glass windows that were on display in the Maryhill Burgh Halls when it first opened were produced by the Glasgow studio Adam and Small. Adam and Small was founded by Stephen Adam, who was born in the vicinity of Edinburgh in 1847 and was of international renown in the field of stained-glass design and production. He had the author Robert Louis Stevenson as a school classmate and started as an apprentice of James Ballantine of Edinburgh.[9]

The panels depict ordinary people, dressed in their ordinary work clothing, carrying out various trades that could be found practiced in the Maryhill area during the period. This makes the panels unique, for at the time religion was the main theme depicted by stained glass artists. In other stained glass panels of the period where workers are depicted, they are usually depicted in classical, biblical, or medieval clothing, poses, and settings. The author Michael Donnelly writes that the commission for Maryhill Burgh Halls was ‘…one of the most important commissions…’ of Stephen Adam’s career.[9] The author Ian R Mitchell describes the stained glass panels as of ‘world-historic’ importance for being ‘…one of the largest and most realistic collection of portraits of labour produced in two centuries.’[8]

The titles of the glass panels in alphabetical order are: The Blacksmiths, The Boatbuilder, The Bricklayers, The Calico Printers, The Canal Boatman, The Chemical Workers, The Dye Press Worker, The Engineers, The Glassblower, The Iron Moulders, The Joiners, The Linen Bleachers, The Papermaker, The Railway Men, The Sawyer, The Soldiers, The Teacher, The Wheelwrights, and The Zinc Spelters.

Due to a dearth of accounts or photographs of the historic glass panels as they were originally on display in the halls, it is currently unknown in what order they were initially displayed.[11]

Eleven of the historic stained glass windows are now on display in Maryhill Burgh Halls. Ten of them can be found mounted in the main hall, and The Canal Boatman is on display at the main entrance to the building.

'The Canal Boatman' stained glass panel.

In order to contribute to the lasting legacy of the Maryhill Burgh Halls restoration project, ten new stained glass windows were commissioned. The ten stained glass windows were produced by the Scottish artists Alec Galloway and Margo Winning.[13][14]

The themes for the modern stained glass windows were chosen to reflect themes of importance for the community of Maryhill today. The themes were chosen from suggestions gathered from over two hundred of members of the community. The suggestion were taken over a period of several months at a series of workshops, visits, and talks.

The final themes chosen were: culture, diversity, education, heavy trades, regeneration, social heritage, space age, sport and leisure, workers, and youth.

After approval of the final designs, each panel was built at Alec Galloway’s workshop in Greenock.

The titles of the panels are: Art-Beat, Down Maryhill Road, Playing the Game, Global Village, Knowledge, Going Out, Burning Spirit, Made in Maryhill, Touching the Stars, and Yesterday and Today.

'Made in Maryhill' stained glass panel.

It is claimed that due to the inclusion of an active QR code on the ‘Touching the Stars’ panel, this makes it the world’s first ‘interactive stained glass panel’.[14]

Fred’s War told the story of the 1st Cameronians who achieved notoriety for selling the Great War’s earliest front line photographs. Leaving from Maryhill Barracks, Fred Davidson, their 25-year-old medical officer (one of the first doctors to win the Military Cross) smuggled his camera to the front line in his medical bag.

On display at the Burgh Halls was a WW I metal helmet, some medals, a nurse’s cap, field glasses, various maps, a wide selection of Fred’s photographs and a camera similar to that used by Fred.

For this exhibition, some examples of the types of cameras which would have been used at the time were sourced. One of these was an Ansco 'Buster Brown' No.2 Box Camera which had a very old spool of medium format, 120 film inside waiting to be developed. The roll was partially developed and found to contain old pictures of Lincoln and nearby Boston in the USA. Some of the pictures were destroyed by light leakage.

Between 6 March 2019 and 27 September 2019 the museum hosted an exhibition pertaining to the history of Partick Thistle Football Club. Partick Thistle Football club was founded in 1876 and has been based in Maryhill since 1908. Their nickname is ‘The Jags’, and they are based in Firhill Stadium in Maryhill.

A competition was launched on 31 August 2020 that involved inviting individuals, local community groups and local schools to create proposals for a community flag. Amongst the reasons for setting up this competition, named ‘A Flag for Maryhill’, was to bring the community together to reflect on Maryhill’s history and look to the future, and to create a symbol which would represent Maryhill’s pride as being a part of Glasgow with its own unique sense of character.

The entries were submitted to an assessment panel which included representatives from the Flag Institute, the Lyon Court (a court of law that regulates heraldry in Scotland) and a special celebrity guest judge, Scottish actress, Jane McCarry. The panel narrowed the selection down to 5 top designs. From these 5 entries the public voted for their favourite design either by social media or in-person at the Burgh Halls. Voting opened on 5 July 2021 and closed 17 August 2021. The top designs were revealed on 4 July 2021 across the Burgh Halls’ social media accounts.

The winning flag was revealed at a community event street party on 2 October 2021 at 1pm. Children and parents could participate in various activities during the event including face painting, art & crafts, balloon sculpture, and card-making.

Maryhill flag.

Between the 1st of September 2020 and 18 September 2020 the museum hosted an exhibition consisting of black and white photographs by the Glaswegian photographer Morton Gillespie. This exhibition depicted the social history of 1960’s Glasgow.

Between 12 July 2021 and 26 December 2021 the museum hosted an exhibition of black and white photographs by the Manchester based photographer Jos Treen.

The exhibition consisted of a selection of photographs taken around the streets of Glasgow in 1978 by Jos Treen during the year in which he was living there. The collection of hundreds of photographs lay forgotten for forty years before they were rediscovered. A selection of the photographs were posted on his social media feeds previous to Jos’ exhibition in Maryhill Burgh Halls.

Between 18 September 2021 and 15 November 2021 the museum hosted an exhibition consisting of a selection of textile panels produced by members of the public for The Loving Earth Project.

The Loving Earth Project invited members of the public to submit 30 cm x 30 cm textile panels that depict themes pertaining to the effects of environmental degradation, contribution of one's own lifestyle to the degradation, and measures that can be taken to address it.

The exhibition was timed to coincide with the weeks leading up to and including the COP26 climate conference that took place on Glasgow between 31 October 2021 and 13 November 2021.

A selection of drawings by the visually impaired Glasgow based artist Jo Sunshine have been on display in the museum since Autumn 2021. Jo was left completely blind in her left eye and with a misty blur in her right eye since being involved in a car accident. Subsequently, she draws everything large and in bold colours.

From the 29th of November 2021 to the 25th of March 2022, the museum hosted an exhibition consisting of artefacts pertaining to the history of the Glasgow Orchestral Society.

The Glasgow Orchestral Society was formed on the 29th of December 1870 (it was initially called the Glasgow Amateur Orchestral Society). They have used Maryhill Burgh Halls as a venue for their weekly rehearsals since October 2011.

Since the 6th of April 2022, the museum has hosted an exhibition consisting of pictures and accompanying stories of ghost signs found on buildings in Glasgow.

A ghost sign on a building is an old hand painted sign that has lasted to the modern day.

The Ghost Signs of Glasgow exhibition will be hosted by the museum until the 1st of July 2022.