Springburn Virtual Museum

Springburn in transition

Balgray Brae, 1862

The road north from Glasgow to Bishopbriggs formed a junction here with Balgray Brae (later Balgrayhill Road), and was macadamised although still outside the city boundary. The origin of the name Springburn is doubtful, but seems to derive literally from the presence of a spring and a burn.

This picture shows Balgray Brae in 1862, the year in which Walter Neilson moved his Hyde Park Works from Finnieston to Springburn. The tenement community had not yet grown up, although more and more railwaymen and their families were settling in the area with the opening of Cowlairs works in 1841 and St Rollox in 1853. The arrival of Neilson's works would add further impetus to the growth of the community.

The population of the village was fairly sizeable at this time, although still composed mainly of weavers, miners and quarrymen. Their numbers merited an omnibus service to and from Glasgow, and the back end of a Menzies' 'tartan bus' can be seen at the bottom right of the picture, one of a fleet of horse-drawn omnibuses established in 1848 by Andrew Menzies of Balornock House.

Source: Glasgow City Archives