Springburn Virtual Museum

Springburn in transition

Goatherds in the street at Balgrayhill, c 1895

Springburn had, by this time, been a thriving community for decades. This bustling scene is unique as an informal snapshot of Victorian Springburn, and gives a vivid impression of street life before the advent of the internal combustion engine. Irish goatherds, selling goats or goats' milk, are surrounded in the middle of the street by curious children, a scene unimaginable in today's traffic-congested streets.

The viewer looks southward from the foot of Balgrayhill, formerly known as Balgray Brae, which had been in existence since at least 1844. On the right of the picture is Well Brae, which would become the Balgray recreation ground fourteen years later. On the left is Knox's Opening, named after a local joiner's yard.

A conductor hangs on by one arm on the platform of his tram, drawn by two horses which were not replaced by electric traction until three years later. A lamplighter up a ladder cleans a gas streetlamp, and a partly obliterated fascia on the far left reads 'Real Italian Ice Cream'.

Source: Glasgow City Archives